Fibre optic network operator FibreCo is set to train 25 industry technicians in the Nelson Mandela Bay area ahead of the further rollout of its network later this year, which will link Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.
The company has so far completed half of phase one the project, with 2,400 kilometres of fibre optic cable linking Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bloemfontein and East London, and is now interviewing candidates for it to extend the rollout to Port Elizabeth later this year.
FibreCo is aiming to complete the first phase of the project by 2016, linking Cape Town and Durban across 5,000 kilometres of fibre optic cabling, while phase two will add routes to the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, and the borders of Botswana and Mozambique.
The completed network will make FibreCo South Africa’s largest carrier-neutral fibre optic network, and the company said it is laying the foundations to reduce the costs of internet access while increasing connectivity speeds and creating jobs.
“Fibre optic is beginning to peak in terms of preferred telecommunications technology, and as such there is a scarcity of skills. We are looking to address that problem through this training,” FibreCo CSI head Tito Ndibongohe said.
FibreCo is a joint venture between Cell C, Convergence Partners and Dimension Data, and has long-term telecommunications contracts with carriers such BT, Internet Solutions and Cell C as well as a strategic partnership with MTN.
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