Vodacom has announced its commitment to a 15-year telecommunications partnership agreement with the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), via its subsidiary Intersite, valued in excess of R1-billion.

According to a statement issued by the mobile operator, the deal comprises two components. The first seeks to further monetise PRASA's telecommunication assets by leveraging Vodacom Business' enterprise channel capability.

"This broadly includes Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS); Virtual Private Network (VPN) connectivity; Unified Communications & Collaboration; Metro E Fibre Access; Microwave Access; Dedicated Internet Access; Hosted Exchange; Security Information Event Management and Internet Access," says Vodacom.

The second will see Vodacom leasing PRASA's dark fibre optic cables for the duration of the contract, making these assets commercially available to government, enterprises, as well as other carriers and MNOs via its wholesale and carrier division.

Vuyani Jarana, Vodacom Business Chief Officer, said: "We are humbled by PRASA's decision to choose us as their strategic partner to help them monetise their existing ICT assets. At Vodacom we have long believed in the strategic role to be played by partnerships and alliances to optimise existing ICT asset utilisation in South Africa. The Vodacom – PRASA agreement is one of our most innovative partnership initiatives to date, alongside the IBM CMS Data centre partnership which we announced earlier this year."

The mobile operator adds that as is the case with global rail agencies, PRASA has invested in "strategic telecommunications assets" like fibre optic to manage locomotive traffic. The South African rail agency is said to have 900 km of fibre along the railway line and stations.

The deal forms part of PRASA's ongoing monetisation of its telecoms assets, a process which began in 2013, and will enable it to generate revenue from fibre, as well as on-sell Vodacom's enterprise products and services.

Intersite CEO Cromet Molepo, says: "Our mandate as Intersite is to exploit PRASA's assets through the use of strategic partnerships to create sustainable value that benefits the people of South Africa. This partnership with Vodacom is the first significant milestone in our journey towards effective and sustainable commercialisation of PRASA's telecommunications assets, with more innovative possibilities down the road."

A Vodacom spokesperson added that the key objective of the deal is to "unlock value from existing PRASA assets ... by means of using them for ICT services, where this is feasible," and that specific benefits to passengers will in the short term come from the availability of WiFi services at PRASA premises, including train stations.