• MAZIV, the parent company of Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa has embarked on a R400 million network infrastructure upgrade.
• The entire project will take 18 months to complete.
• Upgrading the infrastructure will see MAZIV and its subsidiaries able to deliver services faster, and its network perform better.

The coverage of fibre internet infrastructure has increased significantly across South Africa in recent years, thanks mainly to firms like OpenServe and Vumatel. More locations are set to receive access to fibre infrastructure now thanks to a new R400 million infrastructure upgrade rollout from MAZIV.

MAZIV is the parent company of both Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) and Vumatel and between both of these firms operates a network of over 65 000kms of fibre, covering two million homes. This latest R400 million upgrade, spearheaded by DFA will work towards improving the connectivity of that network.

The project has been in trial phase since February and is now being rolled out at scale. The entire project will be carried out over 18 months and will work towards bringing network services to new areas faster, and improving network performance.

“We have rolled out coverage in areas like Soweto, Khayelitsha, Umlazi and many more. These are traditionally overlooked communities. Vuma’s approach is also community-orientated and enables us to work with the community to overcome challenges that have traditionally hampered efforts. Our commitment to the community is also driven by our vision to connect every school we pass with a free 1GB connection, and we have now connected over 700 schools,” enthused Dewald Booysen, chief operating officer at Vumatel.

As part of the upgrade project, DFA will deploy 800 additional Dry Underground Distribution Cabinets (DUDC) units. These units have been developed and manufactured in South Africa to DFA’s specifications.

According to a press release sent to Hypertext, the additional units will shorten the distance that data travels from the customer and over the network using dedicated cables, ensuring the shortest possible installation times.

This means that customers of Vumatel or DFA can also look forward to reduced downtime during repairs and maintenance activities.

“The additional DUDC units and dedicated cables aggregate traffic closer to the customer, which at the end of the day means faster deployment and installation and our customers can expect a significant improvement in their connectivity experience,” explains Andreas Uys, chief technology officer at DFA.

“DFA is investing heavily in enhancing and upgrading existing infrastructure environment to ensure we are able to deliver high volumes of FTTB connectivity and provide customers with a consistently high standard of service delivery.”

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