Partnering for growth

Strengthening key partnerships and creating an environment that encourages investment are crucial levers that stimulate development. The City of Cape Town has numerous supporting policies and programmes in place to mitigate the lasting effects of Covid-19 as well as spur growth going forward.

During the 2020/21 financial year, the City’s Investment Facilitation Unit served as a key role player in the metro’s recovery efforts, particularly through its Incentives Policy, which is designed to attract vital investment to the greater Cape Town area, as well as help prospective investors navigate the municipal processes involved in such investment.

As a direct result of the metro’s prioritisation and incentivisation of investment in the previous financial year, the City engaged with almost 250 prospective investors and saw the initiation of numerous investment projects valued at nearly R15 billion – all essentially during a global pandemic.

Supporting SMEs Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) make up over 90% of all businesses in Cape Town and account for nearly half of private-sector employment. The City has committed to creating an environment in which small businesses can grow and thrive, by facilitating business support. This includes ongoing advice and skills development, guidance on regulation compliance, and the removal of businessrelated bottlenecks. The assistance is delivered directly to SMEs, in partnership with support organisations and various business incubators.

Land use management Expediting land development applications in support of various City strategies is enabled through ongoing improvements to the Land Use Management System. Key to this approach is reviewing and simplifying the City of Cape Town Municipal Planning By-law, 2015 (MPBL), and entrenching the City’s Development Application Management System. This ensures that both these instruments improve efficiencies in the processing of applications, thereby enabling economic growth. The MPBL has consolidated the municipal planning regulatory function and placed it under full City control, effectively giving the City executive authority over municipal planning in its area of jurisdiction. The City reviews the MPBL every year, allowing the public to comment and make suggestions on possible improvements to the by-law and its associated processes.

The Development Management Scheme (DMS) is the City’s single zoning scheme, as required by law, with the objective to control

As a direct result of the metro’s prioritisation and incentivisation of investment in the previous financial year, the City engaged with almost 250 prospective investors and saw the initiation of numerous investment projects valued at nearly R15 billion – all essentially during a global pandemic

land use and regulate land use rights through effective zoning. The DMS helps direct the spatial transformation of Cape Town, as it is framed within the MSDF and the City’s economic and social development strategies.

Growth-oriented partnerships The City partners with property developers and other stakeholders to share information and assess opportunities to help achieve its infrastructure investment vision. This provides a clear view of any planned public- and privatesector development initiatives or concerns. The partnerships also help ensure full transparency between stakeholders, and a shared development vision based on effective information flow. The City engages with representative property development bodies and other relevant stakeholders to share information on its infrastructure investment vision, initiatives and programmes, and to discuss privatesector-led developments.

This helps build a common vision for development in Cape Town based on transit-oriented development (TOD) principles, and improves relations and investment decisions through increased information flow. These information-sharing engagements include a focus on investment initiatives in the spatially targeted TOD precincts making up the Catalytic Land Development Programme, and specifically also the priority precincts. Examples include the business forum and the higher education forum that have been established for Bellville, which is one of the priority precincts. These forums meet a number of times per year, offering the City a platform to share information regarding its planned initiatives in the Bellville precinct, including opportunities to develop this area into an innovation district.

Promoting Cape Town The City’s business brand, Invest Cape Town, continues to stimulate and enable investment by ensuring that all economic role players in the region speak with one voice, campaigning for Cape Town as Africa’s hub for business ideas and innovation. In the previous financial year, Invest Cape Town built on its success from the preceding one by: • continuing to strengthen partnerships with special-purpose vehicles (SPVs) • supporting digital events hosted by

SPVs and stakeholders • running local and international campaigns to boost the economy and encourage investor confidence • successfully growing its digital platforms. In September 2020, Cape Town’s investor confidence campaign was relaunched. This collaboration between Invest Cape Town, Wesgro and the InvestSA one-stop shop was rolled out in three phases, which concluded in April 2021. The campaign aimed to boost the investment identities of both Cape Town and the Western Cape locally and abroad, and to promote the investment landscape as a compelling and lucrative one, while eliminating barriers to investment. The overall campaign achieved 51.7 million impressions, 208 331 clicks to all websites, and an estimated 1 626 leads. Invest Cape Town itself achieved 16.1 million impressions, 55 093 clicks to its website, 405 estimated leads and 221 estimated sector brochure downloads.

Sector development As part of its trade and investment function, the City funds and supports various SPVs to drive growth and job creation in strategic sectors of the economy. The SPVs currently supported are the Cape Information Technology Initiative (CiTi), the Cape Town Fashion Council, BlueCape, the Cape Craft and Design Institute, GreenCape, the Cape Clothing and Textile Cluster, and CapeBPO.

Other SPVs receiving City support include Wesgro, the Western Cape’s destination marketing, investment and trade promotion agency, and the Western Cape Economic Development Partnership.

Since 2011, the City has invested over R300 million in Wesgro and the various other SPVs, which have, in turn, facilitated over R32.2 billion’s worth of investment in Cape Town and created more than 46 000 direct jobs.

In FY 2020/21 alone, the SPVs collectively achieved R9.7 billion’s worth of investment, which has resulted in 10 194 direct jobs for Cape Town. This was achieved against an internal City target of R5.5 billion in investments, 4 000 jobs and 1 660 training initiatives.

This excellent achievement was facilitated by the City’s contribution of over R55 million to the SPVs in the past financial year. The industries in which Cape Town has the most pronounced job creation advantages are business process services, fishing, real estate, textiles and clothing, hotels and restaurants, and food and beverage manufacturing. While many of these were severely affected by the pandemic, they remain key focus areas for attracting investment going forward.

Connecting SA to unlimited opportunity

As SA’s leading fibre network operator, Vuma aims to usher in a new era of connectivity to help ordinary South Africans realise the extraordinary.

Vuma began its journey in 2014, pioneering fibre-tothe-home (FTTH) in South Africa. Two seasoned industry veterans had the vision to create a company that provided high-speed fibre-optic infrastructure and connectivity to homes across the country via an open access fibre network.

What started as a pilot project in Parkhurst, Johannesburg, just eight years ago, has since evolved and transitioned to become a company that has connected hundreds of thousands of South Africans to the internet.

Vuma has passed over 1.5 million homes and, together with our internet service providers (ISPs), has connected over 600 primary and high schools to free 1 Gbps fibre, enlightening over 300 000 young minds with unlimited access to online education.

Vuma lives by the philosophy that adapting smart thinking and brave actions can lead to a brighter future – one that embraces South Africa’s rich culture, accelerates our dynamic energy, while encouraging passion in all that we do in life. It exists to enlighten and unlock human potential by ushering in a new era – one that renews hope, ignites human progress and celebrates new opportunities.

As a company, Vuma is dedicated to perpetuating connections – connections between people, between communities, in society and around the world. We want to help enable people to move forward because we believe that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things when they are given the opportunity to do so. As we look forward to the road that lies ahead, we will continue to realise the vision set out when the company was in its infancy – to connect communities across the country with access to highspeed internet.

The Vuma ethos is founded on the belief that by bridging the digital divide with inclusive connectivity, it can help change the lives of many South Africans. Driven by a desire to become the best fibre provider in the country, the company is cultivating a passion to forge new paths and create exciting opportunities for all citizens.

As we march on with courage and conviction, we look forward to leading the way to an exciting future with innovative solutions such as the first-ofits-kind prepaid fibre service.

Vuma’s connectivity product offers fixed-line broadband services to people in densely populated communities – communities that have little to no access to the internet. As the company grows, it envisions a world where everyone is connected and truly looks forward to helping build a connected nation, including those in smaller towns – it all starts with accessible fibre.

The Vuma journey Vuma helps build networks, in partnership with communities, in order to offer super-fast, world-class fibre broadband.

As a company, it is committed to connecting thousands of people to fast and reliable internet as it strives to drive transformation and break communication barriers by putting fibre

in communities wherever it can. Here’s the company’s journey so far…

In 2014, Vuma broke ground in Parkhurst, Johannesburg, for the first time and by 2015, the network had already passed 50 000 homes. By early 2016, it was on an impressive exponential trajectory as it passed 100 000 homes in under one year – a wonderful accomplishment.

In 2015, it began a project that is still very close to heart. Together with its ISP partners, Vuma began its Schools Programme – a project that helped connect the local primary and high schools in the neighbourhoods it passed with free, 1 Gbps fibre internet.

Vuma believes in creating an imagination nation, one where every child is given the opportunity to connect to online educational platforms, to enjoy access to information and aspire to create the lives they imagine for themselves, with unlimited access to the internet.

This project has grown exponentially over the past seven years. When it began, it equipped 100 schools with fast fibre. Now, the number of schools connected has grown to over 600 – a figure the company is very proud of.

For many reasons, 2016 was a pivotal year for Vuma. The business was awarded Best Fixed Fibre Line Broadband Provider of the Year at the My Broadband Conference, a prestigious accolade to add to its achievements. This is a big part of its success story, as it was its first award, given only a few years after working extremely hard to realise its vision as a company and brand.

Most importantly, this achievement echoed the notion that Vuma was on the right path to connecting South Africa with world-class fibre and we were excited as to what the future held for the business and our communities.

The company also began moving across borders and provinces as it expanded into Cape Town.

Furthermore, in 2017, it was also awarded Best Fibre Infrastructure Provider of the Year at the FTTX Conference, another esteemed honour. By the end of 2017, it had successfully passed 200 000 homes and by the end of 2018, it had passed 400 000 homes and installed free fibre in 150 schools.

Prepaid fibre In 2019, Vuma introduced its very first, groundbreaking prepaid fibre product. The product was first launched in Mitchells Plain, Western Cape.

This model has evolved to become known as Vuma Fibre Reach – a fibre product that offers so much more than just affordable and reliable internet. It has become a catalyst for change and opportunity.

Vuma Fibre Reach is now available in areas such as Soweto, Danville, Chatsworth and Ekurhuleni, while expanding into new communities.

This prepaid fibre service is designed to give communities in relatively dense neighbourhoods access to affordable and reliable fibre in the safety of their homes, without the fuss of long-term contracts and the stresses that come with the high costs of mobile data. Every home in these communities is given the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of uncapped connectivity via a prepaid service from their preferred ISP.

In 2019, Vuma had the great pleasure of being awarded South Africa’s Best Fibre Provider at the MyBroadband Conference and Expo, which was followed by various awards in the succeeding years.

Vuma was recognised as the Fastest Growing Broadband Provider by the International Business Magazine Awards in 2020 and then as the Best Broadband Provider in 2021. Last year, the company also received the Global Economics Award for Fastest Growing Telecommunications Company and the nod for Best Fibre Provider for 2021 by MyBroadband.

Looking ahead, we’re excited to think that people across South Africa can have access to an abundance of information and knowledge that empowers them to move forward. We hope that, together with our ISP partners, we can make the move to create a world that encourages us all to reach for the future and connect to more.

Vuma today Today, Vuma has passed more than 1.5 million homes. As the business grows, Vuma is partnering with new and existing residential developments to deliver connectivity to people living in highvolume complexes more efficiently.

Vuma connects South African communities to high-speed, fit-forpurpose internet through open-access fibre broadband. Working with more than 60 ISPs, Vuma’s value extends beyond infrastructure and empowers ordinary individuals and communities across South Africa to do more, see more, and dream of more.

Guided by its philosophy of ‘because we can, we must’, Vuma strives to drive transformation and break communication barriers. Through the hundreds of schools it has connected to high-speed internet, it supports hundreds of thousands of young people and their teachers with access to the boundless opportunities of the internet, in collaboration with its partner ISPs.

Vuma expands access to fibre into residential complexes

At no cost to body corporates, Vuma is offering seamless and effortless installation of fibre infrastructure, directly to residents’ doorsteps.

Vuma is revolutionising the internet connectivity market, by rapidly rolling out its open access fibre network into homes – from free-standing houses to high-volume residential complexes around South Africa.

Vuma will not only assist developers with getting fibre to newly build complexes or apartments, the leading fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) provider also ensures that fibre is ready when the development is built, delivering this according to the needs of the developer. In addition, Vuma provides education to the residents on the benefits of fibre, especially how fibre installation increases the commercial value of your property and makes it more attractive to prospective tenants.

Three simple steps There are three steps for getting your building connected with a robust fibre link, with continuous updates throughout the process to ensure smooth roll-out of the project.

The first step is engagement, where a Vuma consultant communicates directly with managing agents, landlords and residents to ensure that everyone understands the fibre installation process from start to finish. Second, the fibre is installed in the property and the units are made fibreready, so that each unit in the estate or complex has access to Vuma’s fibre network. This involves some civil work, fibre work and technical testing once the physical infrastructure has been installed. Vuma works off detailed plans of the immediate suburb and building complex, followed by civil work if required, the installation of the cables, and the restoration of the fibre-built areas to the same condition they were in prior to construction.

After Vuma has completed the build and tested the fibre, the property will be deemed ‘fibre-ready’. This means that the utility has been provisioned to the property and residents can now place an order for Vuma fibre. Should a resident then wish to use the utility, they will need to place an order for an inhome fibre installation with Vuma, and choose their preferred internet service provider (ISP).

Vuma will make the property fibreready at no cost to the body corporate. However, should a property owner or resident wish to install fibre into their unit, they simply need to sign up with their preferred ISP on the Vuma network. It is important to note that Vuma is not an ISP but builds an open access fibre network, which means that residents have the freedom to choose from a number of service providers for internet services*. The ISP will become your main point of call for all technical and accountrelated queries you may have.

Each customer is different, and circumstances may change over time, meaning you can easily change between providers and packages based on need. As the market grows and access expands, users have more flexibility now than ever, with options to shift from the traditional contract to month-to-month services.

A new world of possibilities is just a quick click or phone call away for body corporates who choose Vuma’s fibre technology to connect homes to unlimited fibre internet. Access to fibre in your home is more than just a nice-tohave – it’s the key that opens the door to a more convenient, enjoyable and fulfilling life.

To get Vuma Fibre, SMS ‘Get Vuma’ to 30751 to sign up today and visit vumatel.co.za to check your coverage. Alternatively, send an email to mdu.coastal@vumatel.co.za to get more information on fibre deployment into residential complexes.