South African joint venture FibreCo Telecommunications, which is co-owned by broadband provider Internet Solutions, domestic mobile operator Cell C and Convergence Partners, is reportedly targeting the rollout of a fibre-optic network linking Cape Town and Durban via Nelson Mandela Bay and East London in late-2014, BusinessTech reports.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, FibreCo was established in November 2010, in order to build and operate a 12,000km long-haul terrestrial network based on open-access principles for total investment of ZAR5 billion (USD470 million).
In November 2013 FibreCo announced that its network connecting Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, East London and Cape Town had gone live, and claimed that its open-access network ‘provides the shortest and fastest fibre connectivity between these cities’. The company revealed that it had completed over 2,000km of trenching in 14 months, finalising the first stage of the construction process ten months ahead of schedule. Further, FibreCo revealed that British Telecom (BT), Cell C, and Internet Solutions were the first three main tenants on the network. In addition, MTN will have access to the route between Johannesburg and East London, complementing its own national fibre networks.
South Africa, Cell C, Internet Solutions (South Africa), Broadband
