South Africa: Finnfund makes €2m follow-on investment in Fibertime
The new investment supports the company in its goal to connect up to 1.8 million homes to the internet.
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Finnfund has made a follow-on investment of €2 million to Fibertime Group, enabling the company to expand its provision of fibre internet access to communities in South Africa. The new investment supports the company in its goal to connect up to 1.8 million homes to the internet. At the heart of the innovation is both the fibre internet technology provided by Nokia and an affordable pay-as-you-go pricing model by Fibertime Group.
In South Africa, approximately 80% of homes remain unserved by fast and affordable broadband internet, as fibre internet access is expensive and limited to affluent suburbs, perpetuating the digital divide. Furthermore, micropayments are also expensive due to high bank transaction fees leading to a cash-based mindset.
Together Finnfund, Nokia and Fibertime Group are advancing digital inclusion in South African townships. Since Finnfund’s initial investment of €2 million to Fibertime Group in 2023, approximately 65,000 households in South African townships have been connected to the internet. The new follow-on investment of €2 million enables to expand to new townships and connect more homes.
Fibertime Group, with its wholly owned subsidiaries Fibertime and VulaCoin, provides unlimited data on a time-based pay-as-you-go pricing model as well as digital wallets to initiate micropayments.
“Finnfund is very pleased with Fibertime’s rapid growth and expansion enabling more townships in South Africa to get access to the internet. As a Finnish development financier and technology-driven impact investor, we are of course proud that Nokia’s technology plays such a vital role in making this happen,” says Tuomas Vaulanen, investment associate at Finnfund.
“Finnfund doubling down is a vote of confidence in Fibertime and South Africa. Our country is attracting foreign direct investment, and those funds are going towards building physical infrastructure in townships so that all South Africans can have access to affordable uncapped fiber internet,” says Alan Knott-Craig, founder of Fibertime.
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