Open access fibre network operator FibreCo Telecommunications has appointed Simon Harvey as its interim chief executive officer (CEO) for the next six months.
The company says Harvey is taking over from Arif Hussain, who is leaving FibreCo after six years to pursue personal interests.
"As a founding member and CEO, Hussain led the business from the initial JV (joint venture) concept, through the project development and construction phases, into a dynamic fibre-optic network operator." says FibreCo.
Harvey joined FibreCo at its inception in 2010 and played a pivotal role as chief commercial officer, successfully driving revenue growth and network acquisition throughout the start-up phase, it says.
Prior to this, Harvey held positions at Deloitte Consulting and Dimension Data.
"Harvey will lead the company into a new era of growth, by expanding the range of connectivity services across its nation-wide footprint, and extending its fibre rollout to client sites in key towns and metros along the major inter-city routes, says FibreCo.
According to Harvey, fibre network operators in SA are being challenged by the high costs of infrastructure roll out, which increases investment risk and reduces the pace of fibre deployment.
"We firmly believe the answer lies in the open access philosophy. A philosophy that effectively allows consumers to share infrastructure on an equal footing and reduce their costs."
However, this requires consumers like government, operators and service providers to commit their demand to open access providers, which will be able to more firmly predict supply, says Harvey. As a result, they will be able to fund, plan and rollout a lot more infrastructure across SA, he adds.
FibreCo's network consists of over 4 000km of underground fibre routes, as well as carrier-grade equipment hosting facilities interconnecting over 50 sites country-wide, including connectivity to Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Durban, Port Elizabeth and East London.
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