Paul Divall, Dark Fibre Africa chief commercial officer.
Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) is shifting its focus from strengthening its network infrastructure, to expanding its national footprint and speeding up service deployment.
This, as the wholesale open-access fibre infrastructure provider targets further growth in SA’s business connectivity market.
The company says improvements in network uptime, incident resolution and service delivery have laid the groundwork for its next growth phase.
Paul Divall, chief commercial officer at DFA, says the company’s expansion strategy builds on recent network upgrades to accommodate growing connectivity requirements.
“DFA’s growth strategy rests on the strength of our recently upgraded, future-proof network,” states Divall.
See also
“The network has been designed to adapt and scale more efficiently, support more access points and enable more cost-effective connections, particularly in metropolitan areas where demand for reliable and affordable business connectivity continues to grow.”
DFA is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Maziv, the fibre infrastructure group established under Community Investment Ventures Holdings (CIVH), which is majority-owned by JSE-listed investment holding company Remgro.
DFA’s second phase of growth follows its accelerated national network expansion last year, including the rollout of dry underground distribution cabinets totalling over R800 million, which it said will strengthen the resilience and capacity of its fibre infrastructure.
SA’s fibre market continues to expand across residential and business segments, driven by demand for reliable broadband to support remote work, cloud services and data-intensive operations.
The country’s fibre-to-the-home and fibre-to-the-building subscriptions increased by 22% year-on-year in 2025, to 3.01 million, according to figures from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa.
Meanwhile, the business fibre market had 257 000 connected and active endpoints at the end of 2024, with the total projected to approach 309 000 by 2028, it says.
Despite this growth, affordability and uneven infrastructure coverage remain barriers to broader access, particularly in underserved communities.
DFA is increasing its focus on connecting commercial properties, with its fibre-to-the business strategy aimed at extending network coverage and creating opportunities for partners to provide connectivity to more enterprises.
“Fibre-to-the-business is a core part of our growth strategy. Connecting more commercial buildings expands the reach of our network and creates more opportunities for our partners to serve businesses,” adds Divall.
“DFA has a strong history of proactively connecting new developments, and we are increasing our focus on this approach to bring reliable fibre connectivity to more businesses. In today’s economy, dependable connectivity is essential to doing business.”
The company says it is also strengthening relationships with property-sector stakeholders to identify developments and areas where future fibre infrastructure may be required, with the aim of anticipating demand rather than waiting for connectivity requests.
“We are building a dedicated team, led by experienced property-sector specialists, to support the level of engagement we envisage,” Divall explains. “The best way to determine where fibre will be needed is to understand where the property market is headed and where future growth is expected.”
DFA is calling for connectivity to be incorporated earlier into property development projects, rather than treated as an additional requirement once construction is under way.
“Fibre should be considered when the foundations of a development are being laid, allowing connectivity to be integrated into the planning, design and construction of new commercial and residential projects. This reduces delays, avoids unnecessary additional work and ultimately saves time and money for everyone involved.”
Alongside network expansion, DFA is focusing on improving how quickly and consistently it delivers services to customers. The company says it has reworked its systems to improve turnaround times and clarify accountability.
“From a customer perspective, we have seen incredibly positive sentiment towards our growth strategy,” says Divall. “We are having more strategic conversations with our customers and rebuilding trust through action. That means getting the fundamentals right and delivering services faster and more consistently.”
Divall says the ability to bring services to market quickly is central to the firm’s strategy, ensuring it is meeting customer requirements.
“Speed to market is non-negotiable for our customers, and we have redesigned our systems around that requirement,” adds Divall. “We can now deliver services faster, with fewer delays and clearer accountability.”
The company’s next phase will therefore depend on extending its infrastructure, while maintaining service standards and responding to demand from businesses and property developments.