CEO Shameel Joosub speaks at Vodacom's AGM in Johannesburg on Thursday about issues affecting the company. If the Neotel acquisition proceeds, Icasa's conditions require Neotel to increase its BEE shareholding from 19% to 30%. What form would a new empowerment deal take?Once the conditions are finalised by Icasa we will have to do a new BEE deal, but we can't tell what it will look like because the current ICT sector charter has not been aligned with the new BEE codes yet ... There is an alignment deadline set for October, which is worrying, and we have urged the authorities to please start finalising the charter so we can know what we'll have to comply with.Our preference would be to do the deal at Vodacom level, but this would have to be approved in the Icasa documents put out for comment and the Competition Commission obligations.Today, Vodacom is a level two contributor, above the 30% requirement and we've invested billions to make sure we comply ... For us, it would be better to do the BEE deal at Vodacom level because there's a more confirmed dividend flow. Neotel will require huge capital investment, which could delay payouts at Neotel level.story_article_left1How soon might the acquisition be bedded down and how will this place you in the South African market?Neotel is a good opportunity to build out the fibre infrastructure that's severely lacking in the country. It's an area of future growth for us because there's only 7% fixed-line penetration in South Africa currently.The way data is exploding ... you saw this in our full-year results and particularly the last quarter: last year we had a 65% increase in traffic.There will be massive increases in traffic and we'll need mobile and fixed solutions. Neotel gives us the ability to go play in the fixed market.The deal remains subject to the Competition Commission processes, and we're trying to secure dates for the tribunal hearing. We hope the deal will be consummated before the end of the year. From that point, we will be able to use Neotel's assets immediately, except for the spectrum, which is part of the Competition Commission obligations we had to agree to - we won't be able to use Neotel's spectrum for two years.story_article_right2The most important thing for us is to start building out the fibre network and we'll start investing in Neotel immediately.Cell C has said it intends to oppose the deal. What can you say about any case it might bring?I'm not sure what they intend bringing, to be frank. There have been robust processes in putting together this deal, which took a year through both authorities. I think there's a fair and tough set of obligations attached to the deal and that puts us in a position where we have to comply and still try to make a success of a business.Our focus is trying to get the deal approved - as soon as we've done that we can start rolling out fibre to homes and businesses. There will always be detractors, but we're putting our energy into moving forward...