According to local press reports, this week witnessed the launch of ONEdotCOM, a corporate-focused telecoms operator formed as a result of a merger between established players BCS NET and DNS Telecom. ONEdotCOM CEO Niel de Wet confirmed that the company plans to invest around ZAR4.3 billion (USD593.7 million) in the region during its first investment phase, and is currently in the midst of advanced-stage talks to provide telecoms infrastructure to the multi-billion-rand Dube TradePort in KwaZulu-Natal. Further the company will be involved with the rollout of a new trans-African fibre-optic network which will be deployed alongside a new railway system linking Botswana, Zambia and Mozambique.
ONEdotCOM forms part of the larger Blue Platinum Ventures group, which is currently supporting the construction of a ZAR1.2 billon fibre-optic telecoms network across Johannesburg under the ‘BWired’ umbrella. It now transpires that ONEdotCOM has been awarded the contract to operate the BWired network as part of a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) agreement lasting 14 years. BWired, which is being constructed by Ericsson, is set to launch in August 2012. ONEdotCOM has reportedly bought capacity on the SEACOM and SAT-3 fibre-optic submarine cables, and plans to source additional capacity on the WACS and ACE cables when they go live in 2012.