Infrastructure

Community Investment Ventures Holdings Proprietary Limited (CIVH)

DFA is the premier open-access fibre infrastructure and connectivity provider in South Africa. It builds, installs, manages and maintains a fibre network to transmit metro and long-haul telecommunications traffic, which is leased to its customers (telecommunication companies and internet service providers (ISPs)) using an open-access wholesale commercial model. DFA has in excess of 13 740 km of fibre assets in the ground and owns fibre networks in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Midrand, Centurion and Pretoria, as well as in smaller metros, such as East London, Polokwane, Tlokwe, Emalahleni and George, to name a few.

Vumatel is an open-access fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) provider and leases its infrastructure to ISPs, who in turn provide broadband retail internet services to the end customers.

CIVH has a March financial year-end and therefore its results for the 12 months ended 31 March 2023 have been included in Remgro’s results for the year under review. The contribution of CIVH’s operations to Remgro’s headline earnings for the year under review amounted to R206 million compared to R47 million in the prior year.

The group is operationally cash generative and continues to reinvest any excess operating cash flow and capital into expanding its operations and network footprint with a continued principle of limiting overbuild in key markets.

Vumatel is the FTTH leader in both the homes passed and connected homes market in South Africa achieving a market share status of approximately 36% in both verticals. Vumatel remains a growth asset for the group as it continues infrastructure expansion into identified lower Living Standards Measure (LSM) areas and accelerating connections in both its traditional core network and lower LSM areas.

Vumatel group revenue for the period increased by 15% to R3 432 million compared to the prior year of R2 981 million, driven through its fibre infrastructure expansion programme and subscriber uptake growth for the period.

DFA group revenue for the financial year ended 31 March 2023 increased by 6.8% to R2 653 million (2022: R2 485 million). The annuity revenue base at 31 March 2022 was R198 million per month and the company ended on a base of R213 million per month at 31 March 2023.

Vumatel continued to support its independent CSI Foundation, which has the objective of creating sustainable eco-systems in the communities in which the business operates. The goal is to contribute meaningfully and sustainably to these communities leading to strong ties that talk to the essence of the Vuma brand, a distinction that will set Vuma apart from the competition. Focus areas include education, safety, environment and healthcare. The business remains committed to the Vuma schools project, where 680 schools have been connected to date in areas where fibre has been deployed – providing every school that Vumatel passes with a free 1 Gbps service offering.

Critical gaps in infrastructure development, e.g. rural school connectivity remain DFA’s ongoing key focus of CSI, enabling it to bridge the digital divide in high poverty areas. This positively impacts the provision of student access to e-learning and ultimately, new job creation and broader access to the economy.