South African Business 2025

OVERVIEWTelecommunicationsA fibre merger has been blocked.Aproposed merger between telecoms company Vodacomand fibre provider Maziv has been blocked. The two entitiesargued that joint investment would greatly boost access tofibre across the country. Vodacom had been hoping that themerger would help it reach rural connectivity targets to which it iscommitted in terms of its licence to operate.The merger was first announced in 2021 but in 2023 theCompetition Commission recommended that it not be allowed andthe appeal was heard for the first time by the Competition Tribunal inMay 2024. At the end of October 2024, the Tribunal announced thatthe appeal had been denied and the merger could not go ahead.While some commentators criticised the decision to block themerger as a discouragement to investment, the Wireless AccessProviders Association (WAPA) declared that it supported theCompetition Tribunal. WAPA argued that a monopoly would havebeen against the best interests of rural South Africans who can justas easily be served by smaller operators.Maziv is a Dark Fibre Africa company, which is owned byCommunity Investment Ventures Holdings (CIVH), a Remgro holdingcompany. Vumatel is another operating company in the CIVH stable.WAPA is a non-profit which aims to be a liaison between wirelessInternet service providers (WISPs), ICASA, network operators, serviceproviders and consumers. It offers information to members onregulations and technical training and lobbies on behalf of the sector.Vodacom and MTN are the two biggest providers of mobilephone services in South Africa, with more than 70% of the marketbetween them. Telkom and Cell C are the other two major operators.The SA Connect project, intended to connect 5.8-million sitesacross South Africa to high-speed Internet by 2026, receivedan additional R3-billion in 2023 from National Treasury. TheDepartment of Communications and Digital Technologies, theimplementing entity, wants to see remote rural areas having betteraccess to technology.The world’s largest submarine cable system, 2Africa, picturedon the beach at Ysterfontein, has landed at different spots alongSouth Africa’s coast. Engineering News reported four intendedONLINE RESOURCESIndependent Communications Authority of South Africa:www.icasa.org.zaState Information Technology Agency: www.sita.co.zaWireless Access Providers Association: wapa.org.zaSECTOR INSIGHTNew submarine cablesare landing along SouthAfrica’s coast.landings in South Africa aspart of 27 planned for all ofAfrica. The 2Africa consortiumincludes Vodafone, Bayobab(formerly MTN GlobalConnect),Orange, center3, China MobileInternational, Meta, TelecomEgypt and WIOCC. A reporthas estimated that the cable’seconomic continental impactwill be between .2-billionand .9-billion, or between0.42% and 0.58% of Africa’sexisting GDP.In 2024 Telkom sold its towercompany, Swiftnet, to Actis andRoyal Bafokeng Holdings for R6.75-billion. Anticipating increasedtraffic as use of data grows,Swiftnet currently has 3 699 towers(with a further 2 000 permitted)across South Africa. ■SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 202580PHOTO: Bayobab

WaterSkills training is vital for infrastructure.The spotlight was firmly on training professionals to maintaininfrastructure when the Platform of Vocational Excellence(PoVE) was launched at the Stellenbosch Institute forAdvanced Study (STIAS) in 2024.Part of a partnership between South Africa, through the Energyand Water Sector Education and Training Authority (EWSETA), andthe EU, other partners are Stellenbosch University, the NationalDepartment of Water and Sanitation and Capricorn TVET College.Coinciding with the launch, a hackathon was held where SouthAfricans were exposed to the experience of a range of PoVE waterdelegates from Latvia, the Netherlands, Germany, Estonia and theCzech Republic.At another EWSETA event, a webinar on “Skills for a Water-Wise Future:Blending Innovation with Indigenous Wisdom”, solutions for sustainablewater management was the main topic. A vital part of the discussionwas the urgent need for reliable water access in rural communities, in thecontext of only 24% of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa have access toclean drinking water. The value of blending indigenous knowledge withcutting-edge technology was noted.Financing for water and waste management is on the cards forStandard Bank, according to an executive of the bank who told theSunday Times in November 2024 that it was likely that the modelfor financing business clients’ renewable energy requirementswould be followed. Having made more than R2-billion availableto more than 1 500 SMMEs in the energy sector, providing financefor water provision is the next logical step.Places like the dry Northern Cape will increasingly be thefocus as the earth warms and extreme events become morecommon. Innovative solutions such as powering water pumpsby the boisterous movements of children on roundabouts arebeing explored.Municipalities in the Northern Cape (as in many other provinces)have consistently struggled to supply good services to citizens.With the declaration of the entire province as a Priority HumanSettlements Development Area by the National Department ofHuman Settlements, this situation could improve.Another partnership between the public and private sectors willsee the Vaalharts Irrigation Scheme revitalised, leading to greaterONLINE RESOURCESEnergy and Water Sector Education and Training Authority:www.ewseta.org.zaNational Department of Water and Sanitation: www.dws.gov.zaWater Institute of South Africa: www.wisa.org.zaOVERVIEWSECTOR INSIGHTBanks are arrangingfinancing for water supplies.Children pump groundwaterto the surface by playing ona PlayPump donated to DLJansen Primary School in theNorthern Cape by the SumitomoCorporation. It was installed byRoundabout Water Solutions.certainty for fresh produceproducers, assistance for localmunicipalities in providingwater to residents and adoubling of the amount of landavailable to emerging farmers.The existing scheme is oneof the largest irrigation schemesin the world, covering 39 000haunder irrigation, and extending itto Taung in the North West will giveit even greater reach. The schemecurrently has 1 000km of concretelinedcanals and more than 300kmof concrete drainage. ■PHOTO: Sumitomo Corporation 81 SOUTH AFRICAN BUSINESS 2025