Fibre-to-the-home broadband provider Vumatel has taken its first tentative steps into the KwaZulu-Natal market, acquiring Durban based fibre company Estate Connexions (ECX).
Terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
“The acquisition allows Vuma to develop a footprint in Kwa-Zulu Natal and contributes towards our vision of building a connected South Africa,” said Vumatel CEO Niel Schoeman in a statement.
“ECX builds high-speed open-access fibre-optic networks. Similar to Vumatel, the company installs the infrastructure and allows Internet service providers to compete freely over the open-access infrastructure to provide Internet services to the customer,” Schoeman said. Initially, service providers may offer regional deals, so consumers may not necessarily find the same packages in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.
“The investment by Vumatel is a vote of confidence in what ECX has achieved to date. We are excited to bring Vuma to Durban and continue to provide Kwa-Zulu Natal with high speed open access fibre,” ECX CEO Arthur Beavon said in the statement.
According to Vumatel’s website, ECX has already deployed fibre in parts of the Mount Edgecombe Country Estate north of Durban. It also plans to roll out infrastructure in Somerset Park near La Lucia and in Umhlanga Rocks. — (c) 2017 NewsCentral Media