Vodacom CEO Pieter Uys yesterday confirmed speculation that that his company will be joining MTN and Neotel in building a national long-distance fibre optic network. The network will cover a distance of 5 000 km, connecting the major centres across South Africa.<\/p>\n
Uys said that Telkom’s shareholding was previously a stumbling block in their efforts to partner with Neotel and MTN in this fibre project. The sale of Telkom’s stake in Vodacom has freed up the mobile operator and opened the door for the board to approve this partnership. <\/p>\n
Vodacom is currently in negotiations with MTN and Neotel about the fibre project, and Uys said that an announcement regarding Vodacom’s involvement in the project can be expected soon.<\/p>\n
The initial fibre segment of this national network will connect Johannesburg and Durban while onward connectivity to Mtunzini will allow for interconnection with in-progress African East Coast submarine cables EASSy and SEACOM. This segment is expected to be completed towards the end of 2009.<\/p>\n
This new network will compete directly against existing national fibre networks from Telkom and Infraco and provide additional national bandwidth capacity. <\/p>\n