While there may be some grey area between what the incumbent operators and newcomer Metrofibre Networx plan to offer, CEO Malcolm Kirby hopes Telkom, Neotel and other operators will become its clients.
The company, which only begins commercial operations in December, is currently building its network by leasing fibre from local authorities, Dark Fibre Africa, and other providers. It will build up its own metro rings that will target mainly small and medium enterprises that need managed services, but cannot achieve the scale of economies.
“So we really don't want to compete with Neotel and Telkom. In fact, we won't offer any services at all. Rather, we will manage a network on behalf of the service providers, which will then provide the end-user with the services required,” Kirby says.
He says many of the incumbents are not really that willing to roll out infrastructure.
“Telkom is now leasing some of Dark Fibre Africa's lines. Everyone said they would not do that, but where there is capacity put in by someone else, they are willing to use it.”
Willem Marais, Metrofibre Networx head of business development, says the idea is to lease fibre from whomever they can.
“In some areas, we may lease it from local authorities or other government entities, in others we may lease it from other operators,” he says.
Marais says Metrofibre Networks will manage what it terms an “Ethernet Virtual Service”, on behalf of its clients from a network operations centre currently being built in Midrand, Gauteng.
“If a client wants to put voice or IP across the network, that is their business. We will not be offering any telecoms, hosting or Internet services,” he says.
Marais says the company is looking at providing international services and is in negotiations with undersea cable operators such as Seacom, Eassy and others.
“But we will be sticking to our knitting,” he says.
Among the shareholders in the new company, which was only set up in March, are Malcolm Kirby, ex-director of Dark Fibre Africa, Steve Booysen, ex-CEO of Absa Bank, and Eugene Slabbert, ex-CEO of Muvoni Weltex.
Marais says Metrofibre Networx is currently in discussions with other potential investors.
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