Vodacom Plans $325 Million Expansion in South Africa
South Africa's Vodacom Group, jointly owned by Vodafone and local landline operator Telkom has announced plans for a capital investment of R2.5 billion (US$325 million) over the next five years to expand its broadband internet reach - and potentially move into the landline market currently dominated by Telkom.
"We are standing on the brink of a significant change in the way corporate South Africa communicates and in this environment Vodacom plans to be a next generation network service provider delivering on mobile and fixed voice, video and data requirements of all businesses," said group CEO Alan Knott-Craig. "In a playing field that has quickly become crowded, we will differentiate ourselves with the services that are provided on top of the network infrastructure layer," he said.
Vodacom has established a new division called Vodacom Business to provide end-to-end converged solutions and services for the corporate and SME markets.
"In a maturing South African market where cellphone SIM card penetration is already over 90%, our future lies in expanding our business horizontally. We believe that substantial changes will take place in the telecommunications world this year, with the main drivers being within the regulatory and competitive environments," Knott-Craig said.
"Secondly, the demand for broadband is growing exponentially whilst being stifled by the country's limited transmission capacity. Vodacom has now started the process to build our own transmission capacity for the Vodacom network as well as for our corporate customers," Knott-Craig said.
Vodacom is building a fibre optic network and the first ring will be completed in Gauteng by April. The network is being built with links to many of South Africa's top blue-chip companies, who have already indicated a commitment to infrastructure and service contracts with Vodacom Business.
Posted to the site on 24th February 2008
