Actis wins IJGlobal ESG Digital Infrastructure Award – Africa for Octotel
Actis has won the Digital Infrastructure – Africa Award at the IJGlobal ESG Awards 2024 for its successful investment in and recent exit from Octotel.
The award, which recognises a transaction that has truly moved the dial on ESG within digital infrastructure, follows the completion of Actis’ Octotel exit in September following a period of significant growth for the South African fibre business under Actis ownership which saw the number of homes passed with fibre rising from 195,000 at investment to 350,000 by exit signing and the number of customers connected increasing from 56,000 to 110,000 over this period.
Under Actis ownership, Octotel became a true sustainability leader, notably thanks to its social initiatives, which included:
- Providing a free 1GB fibre internet connection to every registered primary and high school passed when deploying the network, with more than 150 schools accessing free internet.
- Securing a new ZAR 2 billion ‘social loan’ facility, provided by Rand Merchant Bank (RMB), to support network expansion into lower living standards measure areas and drive digital inclusion.
- Increasing the proportion of female employees.
- Investing in community development activities, reaching thousands, including bringing connectivity to Waumbe Youth Development Centre to enhance digital literacy programmes and give 150 students access to online literacy.
- Creating employment opportunities in lower income areas, recruiting a minimum 30% of construction and installation project teams from local communities. This target was typically exceeded, with 50-60% local workers on most projects.
- Passing fibre to c.70,000 homes in lower living standards measure areas, increasing connectivity with affordable internet on an uncapped basis.
Click here to read more and find the full list of winners.
Actis is continuing to invest in the fast growing digital infrastructure sector, with US$1.7 billion committed.