The Minister of Trade and Industry Dr Rob Davies has welcomed the Yangtze Optics Africa Cable (YOAC) at Dube Trade Port, Durban. YOAC held the official ground breaking ceremony on today for its new optical fibre cable manufacturing facility in South Africa. The company will supply optical fibre cable and Fibre to The Home (FTTH) solutions to the local telecommunications market which will include Telkom, Neotel, Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Vumatel and Prasa with an envisaged manufacturing capacity of over one million fibre kilometres.
The Yangtze Optics Africa Cable optical fibre cable manufacturing facility is scheduled for completion in October 2016. Recruitment and training of key technical staff will start in September this year. The 15,000m2 manufacturing facility is expected to be fully operational by January 2017.
YOAC plans to further invest in various manufacturing and production capacity expansions at its optical fibre cabling facility in Durban, should FTTH enjoy significant uptake and scale within the next three years. Moreover, YOAC also plans to further invest in building optical fibre cabling facilities in North-East and North-West of Africa providing full support and commitment to the “Trans Africa Information Superhighway” construction program.
Situated at Dube Trade Port, the facility is a R150 million investment by Yangtze Optical Fibre and Cable Joint Stock Limited Company (YOFC) from the People’s Republic of China, and Mustek Limited, its BBBEE partner, a JSE-listed company.
“With an envisaged manufacturing capacity of over one million fibre kilometres, Yangtze Optics Africa Cable will play a significant role in enabling South Africa’s development of a sustainable broadband future,” says YOAC CEO, Mr Viljoen.
“Our aim is to expand this approach to other African countries and create a pool of local skills across Africa that investors can tap into should the need arise. Optical fibre cable broadband technologies are the future, and Africa presents opportunities for future investments. We are preparing for a boom in African investments and want to be ready to provide solutions that will help enable that growth,” adds the CEO of YOFC, Mr Zhuang.
The new manufacturing facility is expected to create approximately 110 new jobs. High level technical skills development will be at the forefront of the company’s skills development programme.
The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) expedited the YOAC investment within a period of just six months leading up to today’s ground breaking ceremony with optical fibre cable manufacturing facility scheduled for completion in October 2016.
Minister Davies says the YOAC investment further signifies that South Africa remains an attractive investment destination across all sectors including advanced manufacturing and reinforces South Africa’s collaboration on a bilateral level with China. He further adds that the dti remains ready and committed to assist foreign and domestic investors in realizing their investment in South Africa.
Enquiries:
Sidwell Medupe
Tel: 012 394 1650
Cell: 079 492 1774
E-mail: MSMedupe@thedti.gov.za
