Township fibre deal approved

The Competition Tribunal has unconditionally approved a proposed deal between township fibre company Fibertime, Refiber, and Onepath Investments.

This comes after the Competition Commission recommended in mid-March that the transaction be approved.

“The acquiring parties have been created as an alternative source of funding for the development of fibre infrastructure to low-income communities, particularly townships and informal settlements,” the Competition Tribunal explained.

“In this respect, Refiber has been set up as a capital raising vehicle to fund the future roll-out of fibre network developments.”

The Tribunal said Refiber nominated Onepath Investments as a special purpose vehicle through which it will raise the necessary capital and acquire the target assets from Fibertime.

The “target assets” is dark fibre infrastructure that does not yet exist. According to the Competition Commission, Fibertime is to deploy new fibre in over 280 townships, excluding two where Refiber and Onepath already own assets.

Fibertime will build the infrastructure, and Refiber and OPI will control it.

“Fibertime operates as a fibre network operator and Internet service provider catering specifically to South Africa’s township market,” it added.

Fibertime is known for its R5 per day uncapped fibre product, which was launched in Kayamandi near Stellenbosch last year.

Former iBurst and Mxit CEO Alan Knott-Craig (junior) launched Fibertime, then Iziswe, in November 2022 to provide affordable uncapped fibre to South African townships.

Querying the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission database revealed that Refiber’s directors are Andrew Brooking and Simon Fifield.

Brooking is a corporate finance executive and founding director of Java Capital who began his career as an attorney, qualifying in South Africa and in the U.S. as a member of the New York Bar.

Java Capital is a boutique firm in corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and equity capital markets that provides advisory and transaction implementation services to companies.

Fifield is the founder and CEO of Capensis Real Estate and a director on the board of Redefine Properties.

Brooking and Fifield are also the directors of Onepath Investments, joined by Jason van Wyk, who is a corporate finance executive at Java Capital.

The deal with Refiber and Onepath comes shortly after Finnfund announced that it made a €2 million (R39.6 million) follow-on investment in Fibertime Group.

Finnfund announced the investment in March 2025 and said it would support Fibertime’s goal to connect up to 1.8 million homes to the Internet.

Fibertime Group is comprised of subsidiaries Fibertime, the fibre network operator, and VulaCoin, a blockchain-based platform to sell prepaid airtime.

In May 2024, Fibertime told MyBroadband that it connected 9,100 homes to its network. These were split between Kayamandi, with 7,800 homes connected, and townships in Gqeberha, contributing a further 1,300 homes.

MyBroadband contacted Fibertime for an update on these figures and about the deal with Refiber and Onepath, but it did not respond to our questions.