FibreCo Telecommunications has announced the appointment of Simon Harvey as its Interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Harvey takes over from Arif Hussain who is leaving for personal reasons after six years at the helm, according to FibreCo.

News of Hussain's departure comes as the company joins participants from across the continent in Cape Town for the 2016 FTTH Council Africa Conference which is a culmination of workshops held in Nairobi and Lagos.

The outgoing CEO anticipates that the new appointee, who served as COO of FibreCo at its inception in 2010, will succeed in growing the company's footprint in South Africa.

"Harvey will lead the company into a new era of growth, by expanding the range of connectivity services across its nation-wide footprint, and extending its fibre rollout to client sites in key towns and metros along the major inter-city routes."

FibreCo's network consists of over 4,000km of underground fibre routes as well as carrier-grade equipment hosting facilities interconnecting over 50 sites across South Africa, including connectivity to data centres in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London as well as the cable landing stations.

Workshops

The company's chairman Andile Ngcaba is scheduled to discuss the Internet of Things (IoT) on day 2 of the 2016 leg of the FTTH Council Africa Conference

The annual Conference will consider the findings from workshops that took place in Lagos and Nairobi early in the year for the compilation of a 'Regional Review' white paper.

Juanita Clark, FTTH Council Africa CEO has says the FTTH Council plans to expand the reach of the workshops leading up to the conference in the coming years. "We aim to make these annual workshops ones where we can not only evaluate year-on-year progress, but also explore innovative solutions brought to light as the industry matures. We believe these regional activities will initiate dialogue and engagement with a multitude of role players in the industry."

Representatives from government, regulators, operators, product manufacturers and installers will discuss challenges encountered in the market in line with similar conversations hosted elsewhere on the continent, said Clark.