Cape Town – The South African Housing Association and Infrastructure Fund (SAHIF) has vowed to invest more fibre connectivity in the townships.
It shifted its emphasis from just real estate investment to internet connectivity in 2019 and just this week it was named a runner-up in the Venture Capital or Investor of the Year Award at the Africa Tech Festival Awards.
Speaking to the SABC, SAHIF's chief financial officer, Kameel Keshav said they were creating significant advancement in terms of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to allow everyday South Africans to have access to online connectivity not only through the traditional mobile network operators but also fibre connectivity which is the most advanced form of technology.
This follows after the government had auctioned spectrum to a number of large network players including MTN, Cell C and Vodacom, Keshav said the spectrum aspect is more driven on connectivity for more mobile network operators and that won't necessarily affect their investment.
“Our investment with metro fibre is traditional fibre and it's exactly putting the hard fibre cables and the infrastructure into the ground, and ultimately getting that connection into different townships or different locations within the country.
“We obviously had a long drive when this idea was set up with getting fibre out to more developed areas but very strong and progressive advancement in the last 18 months in rolling out to lower Living Standards Measures (LSM) areas,” he said
Keshav further said what they are currently doing is that they are rolling out fibres to these different locations like townships and effectively setting up infrastructure towards the environment.
“With the fibre we will be offering, we are ultimately are going to roll out the best of it kind to all South Africans and not only those who are in the top disposable income profile but all those who are in the lower disposable income,” he said.