Interview: Khudu Pitje on Dartcom's new R100m fibre factory

Loading player...
In this episode of the TechCentral podcast, Duncan McLeod talks to Dartcom chairman Khudu Pitje about a new R100m fibre factory the company has built near Mamelodi outside Pretoria.

The facility, which will employ as many as 100 people per shift across three shifts a day at peak production, has been built under licence from international fibre specialist OFS, part of the Furukawa Electric Company.

In the podcast, Pitje explains why Dartcom decided to build the factory, which at peak will produce about 12 000km of fibre-optic cabling a year.

Pitje, the founder of New GX Capital, says there is enormous pent-up demand for fibre infrastructure not only in South Africa but across the broader region.
23 Oct 2017 English South Africa Technology · Business

Other recent episodes

TCS | Charge’s R1.8-billion bet on an off-grid EV future

South Africa has fewer than 400 public electric vehicle charging stations – up from zero just 15 years ago – and EV adoption remains stubbornly slow. Yet Charge, formerly known as Zero Carbon Charge, is betting big that a coast-to-coast network of off-grid, renewable-powered charging stations is exactly what’s needed…
18 May 37 min

TCS+ | The Up&Up Group on the hidden cost of AI

Companies large and small are pouring capital into AI projects, chasing the promise of efficiency, speed and scale. But as Jason Harrison, chief operating officer of The Up&Up Group, argues in this episode of TechCentral’s TCS+, the upfront price tag tells only a fraction of the story – and many…
13 May 46 min

TCS+ | The retirement decision most South Africans get wrong

What happens to your retirement savings when you leave an employer is one of the most consequential financial decisions most South Africans will make – and one of the most commonly mishandled. In this podcast conversation with Mpho Chitapi, 10X Investments senior investment consultant Michael Rossouw sets out what should…
6 May 55 min

TCS | The Cape Town start-up listening for TB with AI

AI Diagnostics, a Cape Town-based med-tech company that has built an AI-powered stethoscope designed to detect tuberculosis, recently raised R85-million in a pre-series-A funding round. In this episode of the TechCentral Show (TCS), Nkosinathi Ndlovu speaks to the company’s CEO, Braden van Breda, about the funding round and its mission…
4 May 36 min