Dark Fibre Africa - Afrikan Heroes

Dark Fibre Africa Licences to be Transferred as Part of Vodacom Deal

November 10, 2022

With the approval of the South Africa’s telecoms regulators, Vodacom has moved a step closer to a considerable expansion of its fibre footprint with the transfer of Dark Fibre Africa’s licences to the mobile operator.

Vodacom said last November it would pay R6-billion in cash and certain fibre assets valued at R4.2-billion for a 30% stake in a newly formed company called Maziv, which holds Community Investment Ventures Holdings’ (CIVH) Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) fibre assets.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) said on Wednesday it had approved the transfer of ownership of DFA’s service licences to Maziv and the transfer of control of the licences to Vodacom effective 1 December.

The authority views the proposed transaction to be in the best interest of the public.

“We view the transaction as unlikely to negatively impact the market while making the transferee an effective player in the market. Additionally, the authority views the proposed transaction to be in the best interest of the public,” said Icasa councillor Luthando Mkumatela.

The approval is subject to the imposition of special license conditions, the regulator added, while the deal remains subject to Competition Commission approval. If approved, Vodacom will also transfer its fibre assets to Maziv.

The deal gives South Africa’s largest mobile operator exposure to the country’s biggest open-access fibre players. Vumatel’s footprint passes more than 1.2 million homes, covering over 31 000km across the country.

DFA is a leading provider of carrier-grade dark fibre — unused optical fibre — specialising in building, installing and operating a national metro fibre network spanning 13 000km.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Dark Fibre Africa Names Andries Delport a New CEO

June 16, 2021

Andries Delport, former Vodacom Group chief technology officer has been named as new CEO of Dark Fibre Africa, the Remgro-controlled DFA parent CIVH has said. He will replace Thinus Mulder who was CEO of Dark Fibre Africa. Mulder, DFA’s founding chief financial officer who has been with the business for the past 13 years, will leave the company at the end of September, CIVH and DFA said in a statement. They did not say where Mulder is going.

Andries Delport, New CEO Dark Fibre Africa

“Thinus will still be available to the group until at least December 2021,” said CIVH CEO Raymond Ndlovu. “His consummate knowledge of the CIVH group’s businesses and the ICT industry is an asset that CIVH will still want to draw upon.”

He will immediately become more involved with DFA operations during the intervening transition period. Delport, who is currently chief technology officer of CIVH, will take the reins from Mulder at DFA on 1 October. “He will immediately become more involved with DFA operations during the intervening transition period,” DFA said.

Ndlovu lauded Mulder’s leadership in “achieving the company’s stellar financial performance and the significant improvement in DFA’s Net Promoter Score in recent years”.

DFA builds fibre-optic telecommunications networks and has deployed over 14 000km of ducting infrastructure in major metros, secondary cities and smaller towns. It is the sister company in the CIVH stable to fibre-to-the-home operator Vumatel.