South African investment bank Investec has committed to a ‘significant equity investment’ in domestic broadband operator Vumatel, following the conclusion of a deal to acquire a minority stake in the ISP, Fin24 reports. Vumatel’s CEO Niel Schoeman disclosed that the financing will allow Vumatel to accelerate its fibre-optic rollout to communities across South Africa and connect up to 100,000 homes to its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network by 2016.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Vumatel’s open-access FTTH network, which offers maximum download speeds of 1Gbps, went live in Parkhurst in October 2014; the fibre network has since been expanded to six additional suburbs.