Ilitha secures R500m funding to scale affordable fibre across township communities
Ilitha secures R500m funding to scale affordable fibre across township communities. Affordable fibre provider Ilitha Telecommunications has secured R500 million in funding from Absa Corporate and Investment Banking to expand its network across South Africa’s township economies.
The company formally launched its network in Mthatha this week, following an 18-month rollout that has connected homes across 27 communities in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
The funding comes as competition grows in South Africa’s affordable fibre market, with providers increasingly targeting lower-income and historically underserved communities.
Ilitha CEO Vuyani Jarana said the company’s experience had shown that affordability alone does not determine whether households adopt and continue using broadband services.
“While affordability is key, the internet use case has a big effect on adoption and usage,” Jarana said. “What drives usage and adoption is the sense of value.”
Ilitha has sought to build services around how customers use connectivity, including partnerships focused on healthcare and education. At its Mthatha launch, the company showcased TruMD, a digital healthcare platform that provides online consultations with HPCSA-registered doctors.
It also highlighted its partnership with SpecCon, which provides accredited learnerships, short courses and qualifications.
The company said its rollout experience had revealed differences in the economics of deploying fibre across various communities. Higher housing density in established townships can make it easier to connect multiple households, while larger properties and different settlement patterns can raise connection costs elsewhere.
Ilitha uses a prepaid, uncapped model, offering packages with advertised capacity of between 200Mbps and 300Mbps. It also provides connectivity beyond individual homes in communities where its network is available.
Jarana said the company’s model was developed by starting in township and peri-urban communities rather than adapting an established urban network approach.
The R500 million funding will support the next phase of expansion as Ilitha seeks to take its model into more communities.
“We have spent the past 18 months proving that this model works. The next phase is about taking what we have learnt and scaling it responsibly,” Jarana said.
