The company behind the multi-billion rand rollout of South Africa’s largest long-distance open access fibre optic network arrived in Nelson Mandela Bay this week to interview potential candidates for its internationally accredited Fibre Optic Training Programme.
Fibre optic network operator, FibreCo Telecommunications, will train up 25 industry technicians in the Nelson Mandela Bay region ahead of its rollout later this year of a mammoth project which will link Cape Town and Durban via the Bay and East London using the latest fibre optic technology.
FibreCo has already completed half of the first phase of the project, lighting up over 2,400 km of fibre optic cabling which links Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bloemfontein and East London, connecting far-flung rural municipalities in the process.
Once Phase 1 is completed by 2016 and Cape Town and Durban have been linked via the Bay and East London, about 5,000km of state-of-the-art fibre optic cabling will have been laid across the country. This will make FibreCo South Africa’s largest carrier-neutral fibre optic network which, the company says, is laying the foundation to reduce the costs of Internet access while increasing connectivity speeds and creating much-needed jobs in the hi-tech ICT (Information Communications Technology) sector.
The intensive month-long training programme, in partnership with the Seda Nelson Mandela Bay ICT Incubator (SNII), will offer trainees globally accepted ICT accreditation and equip them to be able to maintain and repair complex fibre optic networks locally or abroad. On completion of the training the technicians will be certified under the internationally recognised Fibre Optic Association, which will be involved during the construction and maintenance of the network.
FibreCo human resources manager Tshepo Mpaneng and the company’s stakeholder and CSI head Tito Ndibongo were in the Bay to select candidates from the scores of applications for the training.
“The types of candidates coming through have been really amazing. It is interesting to see the quality of candidates in this [ICT] region,” said Mpaneng, adding that it was vital for the company to build a competent network of fibre optic technicians in the various regions that would carry FibreCo’s cabling.
Ndibongo said the company was addressing the skills shortage in the fibre optics sector.
“Fibre optic is beginning to peak in terms of preferred telecommunications technology, and as such there is a scarcity of skills. We are looking to address that problem through this training,” he said.
SNII centre manager Sipelo Lupondwana said the centre’s partnership with FibreCo in the implementation of the training “is contributing in assisting with skills development and ultimately increasing employment creation opportunities within the ICT sector”.
“This brings about a revolutionary new movement of supporting future thought leaders through the establishment of a long-term ICT skills development programme in the Nelson Mandela Bay region,” said Lupondwana.
FibreCo, a joint venture between Cell C, Convergence Partners and Dimension Data, has so far trained up 50 technicians – 30 in Bloemfontein and 20 in East London. Already at least 15 graduates have been absorbed by the company as interns where they are being given vital on-the-job training.
Phase 1 of the project will create over 2,300 direct and indirect jobs. Phase 2 will feature additional routes to the Western Cape, the Northern Cape, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, as well as the borders of Botswana and Mozambique.
FibreCo already has long-term telecommunications contracts with Tier 1 carriers including BT, Internet Solutions, Cell C and has entered into a strategic partnership with MTN.
Alan Straton
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