CENTURION, Gauteng – 5 September 2012 – The Nkangala district will benefit from a golden investment of nearly R100 million. Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) will be deploying more than 120 kilometres of optic fibre infrastructure throughout this region. This forms part of a R3.5-billion national fibre network that will increase bandwidth and reduce Internet costs significantly.
DFA will be deploying a 64 kilometre optic fibre infrastructure in eMalahleni (Witbank) to the value of R52-million and 58.8 kilometre infrastructure to the value of R42-million in Middelburg.
The company’s CEO Gustav Smit says DFA will launch the Nkangala district into the digital age. “The socio economic benefits of fibre optic networks are vast, affordable broadband contributes to increased economic activity.”
As an open access dark fibre infrastructure provider, DFA provides communities like eMalahleni (Witbank) and Middelburg with open access to its fibre optic network through licensed operators and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) on equal terms.
DFA started rolling out its network in metropolitan areas in October 2007 and has already laid in excess of 6 400 kilometres of infrastructure. The company assumes the role of physical infrastructure developer, funds the rollout and provides all operators with a first class secure ducting infrastructure on which licensed operators can build their services.
The deployment of metro and long haul open access ducting, optimised for fibre network deployment, will enable larger users of communications capacity to enjoy logical separation and ownership of communications capacity, while sharing the same physical right of way and access routes with other carriers.
DFA’s footprint extends nationally and links with the SEACOM, EASSy, SAFE and the SAT3 cables at Mtunzini in KwaZulu-Natal and links to the WACS cable at Yzerfontein and the SAT3 cable at Melkbosstrand in the Western Cape.
“South Africans 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 and ISPs need to play a leading role in mobilising communities,” he concludes.
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