A sign at the entrance to Vodacom’s Midrand campus

Vodacom moved a step closer to a considerable expansion of its fibre footprint after South Africa’s telecommunications regulator approved 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.

“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 licence conditions, the regulator added, while the deal remains subject to Competition Commision 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.