In April 2016, Vantage Capital invested ~USD17m in Vumatel, a South Africa-based housing fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network provider used by accredited internet service providers to supply broadband services to their customers.
With Vantage Capital’s support, Vumatel had grown from 600 kilometers to over 19,000 kilometers of fiber assets, while its network had grown to more than 610,000 homes and 222,000 subscribers. Vantage’s funding early in Vumatel’s development helped the company prove that its concept was scalable and profitable. Approximately six months following Vantage’s investment, Standard Bank came in with a ~USD28m loan.
In 2019, Vumatel launched its Vuma Fibre Reach network to provide affordable access to FTTH services in underserved neighborhoods. Vumatel has also played a role in upgrading the infrastructure of schools by launching an initiative to connect every school Vumatel passes in the deployment of its network with free uncapped open-access fiber-optic infrastructure.