South African fibre operator Maziv is launching a nationwide expansion drive to replace thousands of the country’s ageing microwave tower links with fibre backhaul — a move expected to reshape mobile network performance in underserved regions.

Maziv, 70%-owned by Remgro’s CIVH (JSE:REM) and 30%-owned by Vodacom Group (JSE: VOD), operates as the parent company of Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) and Vumatel.

Through DFA, Maziv plans to connect more than 8,000 mobile towers that still rely on legacy microwave systems. These links, once standard, now form a major bottleneck to network throughput and 5G rollout. The project would double DFA’s existing 35,000-km fibre footprint, extending coverage across semi-rural provinces and high-growth industrial corridors.

The project will operate under the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) fibre-backhaul and wayleave framework, which streamlines municipal approvals and encourages shared-infrastructure deployment to lower rollout costs.

“Our goal is to ensure that every tower can handle next-generation data capacity,” a Maziv representative told ITWeb, which first reported the initiative. Fibre backhaul provides scalable bandwidth and lower latency than microwave transmission, enabling greater resilience for high-traffic applications such as video streaming, fintech services and remote-work platforms.

Independent analysts at Frost & Sullivan and Africa Analysis estimate the investment could exceed ZAR10bn ($540mn) if Maziv fully executes the plan over three to five years, though the company has not confirmed final figures. They said the upgrade could increase tower throughput by up to fivefold, depending on operator integration and network topology.

The funding could involve a blended model combining Maziv’s internal capital with debt from local infrastructure funds and development finance institutions (DFIs) such as the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which have previously backed broadband expansion.

The effort follows Maziv’s 2023 merger of Vumatel and DFA, creating one of Africa’s largest open-access fibre infrastructure groups serving both residential and enterprise markets. The company is now positioning itself as a wholesale backbone provider for telecom operators, supporting carriers such as Vodacom and MTN Group (JSE:MTN) as they densify 5G networks.

The fibre expansion pits Maziv against private operators including Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Herotel, and MetroFibre, which are also vying for enterprise and carrier clients. However, Maziv’s open-access model and Vodacom link give it scale advantages that competitors may struggle to match.

Analysts note that fibre-connected towers can substantially reduce latency and energy use while improving service reliability — critical for meeting South Africa’s expanding data demand. “This is not just about faster internet — it’s about unlocking digital inclusion for millions still left behind by patchy backhaul infrastructure,” a Cape Town-based telecoms analyst told Business Day.