Dandemutande, Fiber seal US$8m partnership

INTERNET service provider Dandemutande has announced a US$8 million partnership with Fiber, a Bandwidth and Cloud Service Group (BCS) subsidiary, to construct an 891 kilometre (km) longhaul fibre optic backbone along the Beitbridge-Harare railway network.

In a Press briefing held last week, Dandemutande chief executive officer Never Ncube said the investment would allow the company to expand, provide connectivity and information technology services to its clients.

“We have made an investment of US$5 million for the backhaul and will invest about US$3 million in metro fibre in cities that the backhaul is passing through to modernise and upgrade our network thereby ensuring that the platform is future-ready to meet customer needs,” Ncube said.

Through this investment, Dandemutande is seeking to enhance its role as a backhaul provider in the ICT sector through furthering advanced, high-capacity platforms and improved user experience.

A March 2021 report on the country’s digital economic potential estimated that a 10% increase in broadband penetration in developing countries is associated with a 1,4% increase in gross domestic product.

Ncube said the project reflected the organisation’s commitment to provide future-proof solutions.

“This speaks volumes of our commitment to providing our customers with superior connectivity solutions throughout the country and we will split the project into two phases, the first phase being the 531km of optic fibre from Beitbridge-Somabhula-Bulawayo which was launched in December 2022 with the Victoria Falls leg and the second phase being the 360km of optic fibre between Somabhula and Harare will be completed end of February this year,” Ncube added.

BCS group managing Director Yonas Maru added that the new infrastructure would significantly reduce internet access costs, increase reliability and bring high-speed internet access to rural Zimbabwe.