Major township fibre deal in South Africa

After securing a R39.6-million European investment, Fibertime has inked a deal with a local investment firm for dark fibre assets. - mybroadband.co.za

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The Competition Commission has given its nod to a proposed deal between township fibre company Fibertime, Refiber, and Onepath Investments. South Africa's competition watchdog described the deal as Refiber and Onepath acquiring last-mile dark fibre networks that Fibertime still needs to deploy around the country. Fibertime is known for its R5 per day uncapped fibre product that it launched in Kayamandi near Stellenbosch last year.

Former iBurst and Mxit CEO Alan Knott-Craig (junior) launched Fibertime, then Iziswe, in November 2022 to provide affordable uncapped fibre to South African townships. In May 2024, Fibertime told MyBroadband that it connected 9,100 homes to its network. These were split between Kayamandi, with 7,800 homes connected, and townships in Gqeberha, contributing a further 1,300 homes.



MyBroadband contacted Fibertime for an update on these figures earlier this year, but it did not provide feedback. We also contacted them about the deal with Refiber and Onepath, but Fibertime did not respond by publication. Last week, Finnfund announced that made a €2-million (R39.

6-million) follow-on investment in...

Jan Vermeulen.