Seacom says it will pursue acquisitions as it looks to target fibre-to-the business in metro areas in South Africa.<\/p>\n
Speaking to journalists at the group’s head office in Johannesburg on Wednesday, CEO Byron Clatterbuck said: “We are looking for partners through acquisitions.’<\/p>\n
He said that acquisition targets would be in markets where Seacom already has a presence. “We are backed by some big players, the war chest is unlimited.”<\/p>\n
Seacom\u2019s shareholders include Remgro (30%), Sanlam (15%), Convergence Partners (15%), Kenya\u2019s Aga Khan Foundation (30%) and founder Brian Herlihy (10%).<\/p>\n
Seacom currently leases dark fibre from a number of providers, and will also look to trench its own fibre in certain areas as it targets growing commercial parks. “Last mile is the key value capture,”said Clatterbuck.<\/p>\n
“In our industry, you need to capture as much revenue as you can…get as much traffic on your network as you can,” he said.<\/p>\n
The submarine cable operator, which has a network of submarine and terrestrial high-speed fibre-optic cable serving the East and West coasts of Africa, launched its enterprise unit at the back end of last year.<\/span><\/p>\n The company said it has signed up 1,000 direct and indirect customers since its launch in October 2015, including Allan Gray, Outsurance, Dischem, Alexander Forbes, Prudential, and Coronation.<\/p>\n The head of Seacom\u2019s enterprise segment, Grant Parker, said 90% of the clients are in South Africa.<\/p>\n The group, which has a staff compliment of 25 people in South Africa, has 120 partners locally and 10 in Kenya, and is activating 100 services per month.<\/p>\n