Fibre Infrastructure South Africa
Affordable & Reliable Internet Access Critical to Economic Growth, Standard Bank Says
Image sourced from Regent Lighting. In the post-COVID-19 environment, access to digital devices and the internet has become a must-have for school assignments, healthcare, communicating with friends and family, finding a job, or starting a business. Yet many South African families remain unconnected and are thus excluded from the opportunities that connectivity provides. According to The State of ICT in South Africa report, most South Africans cannot afford to connect online due to data costs, and lack of internet-enabled devices. Data costs in South Africa are notoriously high when compared to other emerging markets, with research showing that SA’s data costs are about six times higher when compared to other emerging economies. “But the pandemic, which has accelerated the reliance on digi...
Why South Africa Needs Fibre to Drive 5G Connectivity
5G is paving the way forward for the connectivity that digital technologies increasingly require, but it offers a lot more than just unprecedented mobile data connection speeds. 5G is capable of handling many more connected devices, has ten times lower latency than 4G, and enables ‘network slicing’ which can prioritise specific users, services, or devices during times of network overload. With all these benefits, it’s no surprise that many people have the misconception that 5G will ultimately replace fibre, when in fact 5G without fibre would not exist. The 5G mobile network is currently being rolled out in South Africa and will still take a few years to become widely available. Even then, 5G networks will not eventually replace fibre optic networks but rather complement them by offering m...
MetroFibre’s South African Network Rollout Backed by Investec
Investec has taken charge of arranging R2.5 billion in debt funding for MetroFibre Networx, a South African fibre infrastructure provider. “There’s a massive demand for fibre connectivity in many outlying regions. Filling that gap makes sense not only from a business perspective but also from a socioeconomic upliftment standpoint,” says Wayne Edwards, Financial Director of MetroFibre. “In a growing and fiercely competitive market, the timely funding arranged by Investec, together with our recent R1.5 billion equity raise, will enable us to take fibre to more individuals and more businesses, giving them the opportunity to participate in the globally connected economy.” The funding agreement builds on an existing relationship between the two companies that dates back to 2016 when MetroFibre ...
