A new company called i3 Africa, which bares more than a passing resemblance to the now incredibly controversial i3 Group UK, has announced plans to deploy a 1Gbps (Gigabits per second) capable fibre optic broadband network ( FTTH ) in six South African cities (Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, Pretoria - 2.5 Million people) over the next 4-5 years and at a cost of £447m (R5bn) to £537m (R6bn).

The new company is backed by the National Empowerment Fund (NEF), which was setup to help promote and facilitate black economic equality and transformation. Its CEO, Cornelis Groesbeek, and Chairman, Andrew Mthembu, are also Non-Executive Directors on Broadband Infraco's board; the state-owned company tasked with boosting broadband coverage and lowering ISP prices in South Africa (conflict of interest?).

If any of this sounds at all familiar then that's because it is. Officially i3 Africa is not part of the controversial i3 Group, although i3 Africa does intend to use the i3 Group's technology and the i3 Group will also take a 15% stake in the firm. Curiously a report on TechCentral.za claims that the i3 Group has "already deployed similar fibre networks in the US, the UK, Australia and New Zealand".

As regular readers will know, the i3 Group recently sold off its UK subsidiaries ( Fibrecity , H2O Networks etc. ), which followed serious financial and development problems (here). Not to mention that problem with an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (here). As for i3 Australia, Brisbane City has scrapped their plans following related concerns (here).

It might also interest readers to know that i3 Africa has two subsidiaries, H2O Networks and Fibrecity . It's all becoming very familiarly territory now. Meanwhile Merrill Lynch will be in charge of arranging the necessary funds.

We certainly wish i3 Africa the best of luck and sincerely hope that they are able to achieve what the i3 Group was unable to do in the UK, complete a full deployment of their fibre optic broadband network. Durban will be the first city to "benefit" from a pilot project in the next few months.