The business of laying fibre-optic cable, both terrestrially and under the sea, used to be the preserve of incumbent telecoms operators sharing the burden of capital-intensive projects.

ECONOMIST: Booms and busts

The telecoms companies lost fortunes on laying that fibre (indeed, several, including such as Global Crossing, went resoundingly bust for billions in doing so).

FORBES: You Can't Use Google's Broadband To Justify National Broadband

Since 1997, Telkom has cut the time it takes to repair faults, reduced international charges by 50% in real terms, and started laying a massive undersea fibre-optic cable to carry data between Africa and Europe.

ECONOMIST: Telkom, the state telecoms monopoly, still has much to do