CENTURION, Gauteng – 29 May 2012 – Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) is currently deploying a fibre infrastructure to the value of R72-million in the Eastern Cape region. More than 100 kilometres of fibre is being laid in the region that includes Mthatha and East London.
DFA has evolved into the largest open access fibre infrastructure provider in Southern Africa with an expenditure plan in excess of R3.5-billion countrywide. This project will not only launch the region into the digital age, but it will also bring significant investment into the area.
The socio economic benefits of fibre optic networks are vast, affordable broadband contributes to increased economic activity. Expansion of communications infrastructure brings about new business opportunities that are dependent on broadband like ISPs, Internet Cafes and banking services.
Open Access broadband also stimulates competition within the telecommunications market, ultimately reducing Internet costs. Furthermore, the competitive advantage and productivity gains of broadband are enormous. Municipalities are able to provide electronic services, education levels improve with access to information and communities have access to eHealth and eLearning.
Dark Fibre Africa CEO Gustav Smit says they merely provide the open access fibre infrastructure. “This enables licensed mobile operators and ISPs like Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Internet Solutions and MWEB to give communities access to the network.”
Smit has called on ISPs to play a leading role in mobilising communities. “End users simply don’t know what 20Mbps or 100Mbps to the home means. An opportunity needs to be created for users to test drive serious broadband.”
“DFA is here to provide a long term sustainable solution to the local community,” he concludes.
The Mthatha project is planned to start in June 2012 and the project in East London will be completed by the end of July 2012.
DFA is the premier wholesale, open-access fibre-infrastructure and -connectivity provider in South Africa. We finance, build, install, manage, and maintain a world-class fibre network to transmit metro and long-haul telecommunications traffic. We started rolling out our fibre network in 2007, and to date, we have deployed over 13,000 km of ducting infrastructure in major metros, secondary cities, and smaller towns. Our network runs with an industry-leading uptime of 99.98%. We lease our secure transmission and backbone fibre infrastructure and provide associated connectivity services to telecommunications operators, Internet service providers, media conglomerates, tertiary education institutions, municipalities, government organizations, and other businesses, large and small, on equal terms. DFA is a Level 3 B-BBEE Contributor on the ICT Sector Codes.
Press contacts
Tribeca PR for DFA
dfa@tribecapr.co.za