Link Africa’s agreement with the City of Tshwane to roll out a 2 000km fibre-optic telecommunications backbone in Pretoria has been cast into doubt after the city issued a statement disputing statements made by the company.

Link Africa CEO Rikus Matthyser told TechCentral in an interview earlier this month that the company had secured approval from Tshwane to run fibre infrastructure through Pretoria’s sewer and waste-water service networks and planned to deploy 2 000km of fibre over a five-year period. The company later issued a press release in which it confirmed the deal.

But the city has disputed the contents of Link Africa’s media statement, saying it has “instituted an internal investigation into this project as it seems due process was not followed”.

Tshwane says its city manager, Jason Ngobeni, has said this could result in the “suspension of officials if [they are] found guilty of misconduct”.

“The City of Tshwane has developed and approved its own broadband strategy and, once ready for implementation, an open tender process will be followed,” it says.

Link Africa says in response that it is “confident” that the Tshwane investigation will show that “in the 18 months that the company has been engaging with the city, all necessary approvals were obtained and the company is happy to provide the city with the necessary approval documentation”.

“Link Africa has engaged in a comprehensive consultative process with the city to ensure that there is full alignment with the use of the company’s … technology for the deployment of fibre-optic networks in existing underground municipal service networks,” it says.

“It is with surprise that despite this comprehensive consultative approval process, the city intends investigating its own internal processes. To date, Link Africa is yet to receive any formal and official notification from the City of Tshwane in this regard.” — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media