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Vodacom’s fibre network passes 25 000 homes

Johannesburg - Mobile network Vodacom [JSE:VOD] has joined South Africa’s fibre broadband land rush as the company says its high-speed network now passes around 25 000 homes in the country.

Vodacom CEO Shameel Joosub said on Monday at the company’s annual financial results briefing that it has invested R500m in its fibre to the home and business segment.

While Vodacom has rolled out fibre access to around 25 000 homes, the company further has another 190 estates in its pipeline, said Joosub.

Vodacom’s focus on fibre comes after it earlier this year abandoned its bid to buy fixed-line provider Neotel for R7bn amid regulatory complexities and certain conditions not being fulfilled.

"Fibre is still key to our future,” said Joosub.

"We have entered into wholesale partnerships,” he added.

Vodacom’s fibre build adds to other companies’ endeavours to make a mark in this space.

Independent infrastructure provider Vumatel launched its first fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network in upmarket Johannesburg suburb of Parkhurst in 2014.

Since then, Vumatel has branched out to other Johannesburg suburbs like Linden and even parts of Cape Town. Last year, the company said it’s targeting reaching 100 000 South African homes..

Meanwhile, Telkom’s wholesale broadband division Openserve has targeted connecting one million homes to fibre in the next two years while MTN has also been rolling its own FTTH networks in suburbs in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Last month, Cell C also announced that it’s partnered with Vumatel on fibre broadband offerings.

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