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.