FibreCo investment presented at Brics summit by NEF
FibreCo investment presented at Brics summit by NEF
Investment opportunities for fellow Brics nations in infrastructure development and industrialisation in South Africa were valued at over R33-billion, or $3.5-billion, National Empowerment Fund (NEF) CEO Philisiwe Mthethwa told delegates on the opening day of the fifth yearly Brics Summit.
Referring to the telecommunication sector, she said “the IDC had transactions under consideration worth $5.7-billion, which included FibreCo, a joint venture between Cell C, Convergence Partners and Dimension Data, and which was rolling out a long-haul open-access fibre-optic network”.
The network would connect the major commercial centres, as well as the rural and underserviced areas along its route, and would, ultimately, result in the creation of over 2 500 direct and indirect job opportunities across the country through the construction and operations and maintenance periods.
South Africa had a direct interest in extending Brics cooperation to support Africa’s development agenda, particularly by increasing financial aid to build infrastructure and industrial capacity, and increasing imports of value-added manufactured products from the continent.