After the sale of Telkom South Africa’s stake in Vodacom, the mobile operator will be able to join MTN and Neotel in building the national long distance fibre optic network.

After the sale of Telkom South Africa’s stake in Vodacom, the mobile operator will be able to join MTN and Neotel in building the national long distance fibre optic network. The $197 million, 5,000 km national project was initiated by Neotel and MTN in mid-January 2009. The network will connect the major centres in South Africa. The first phase will connect Johannesburg and Durban, after which extension to Mtunzini will allow interconnection with the submarine cables EASSy and SEACOM. The first section of the fibre optic cable project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2009.