Business development for wireless and fibre ISPs

Your network grows. So do we.

Argenco helps wireless and fibre internet service providers win more customers, raise funding and build faster. Our reward comes the same way yours does: as your network grows, so does the internet access you buy through AFR-IX.

30+ years

in ICT and connectivity across Southern Africa

600,000

monthly users on the Tshwane free Wi-Fi network Tim ran

30,000

homes in a KwaZulu-Natal fibre roll-out he led

R15m

annual turnover at Airband, the wireless ISP he co-founded and sold

What we do

Growth is the service. Connectivity is how we're rewarded.

Argenco's incentive is simple: we do well when you do. Tim Genders works alongside the owners of wireless and fibre ISPs on the things that actually grow a network, and Argenco is rewarded as that growth turns into more traffic on AFR-IX IP transit.

Wireless ISPsFibre ISPsFTTH operatorsCommunity and public Wi-Fi networks

Growth strategy

Where to build next, fibre or fixed wireless, and how to sign up homes and businesses faster. Practical plans grounded in three decades of building and running networks.

Funding and partnerships

Corporate, impact and donor funding to expand into underserved areas, and the partnerships that make a roll-out stick. Tim has raised from mining, industrial, financial and impact investors.

Data and operations

One clear view out of disparate systems: home internet usage, build progress, commission claims and invoicing with local contractors, so you can see what's working and fix what isn't.

How it works

A partnership built on aligned incentives.

Every subscriber you connect needs internet access upstream. As your network grows you buy more IP transit, and Argenco, as business development partner to AFR-IX, shares in that growth. It keeps our focus exactly where yours is.

Talk to Tim about your network
  1. 01

    We work on your growth

    Strategy, funding, partnerships, operations: whatever is holding your network back.

  2. 02

    Your network grows

    More homes passed, more subscribers connected, more traffic on your network.

  3. 03

    You buy more IP transit

    Through AFR-IX, as and when you need the capacity. That's how Argenco is rewarded.

On the ground

Networks get built in the field, not the boardroom.

From township fibre roll-outs to fixed-wireless networks, Tim's work happens on site, alongside the operators and communities who make connectivity real.

Tim Genders and a companion smiling on a sunny street
Out on the road
Tim Genders smiling alongside another man beneath a large ivy-covered tree
Building relationships
Tim Genders and a companion at the Welcome to the Western Cape, Garden Route District road sign
Home base: the Garden Route
Tim Genders, founder of Argenco

Tim Genders

Founder, Argenco · Business Development, AFR-IX
Knysna, Western Cape

About

Meet Tim Genders.

An engineer by training, with First Class Honours in Engineering Science from Oxford, Tim has spent more than 30 years in ICT and connectivity across Southern Africa. He has built, grown and sold an ISP, run one of the country's largest free public Wi-Fi networks, and chaired the industry body for South Africa's wireless operators.

  • 2024 – 2026

    Head of Innovation, Ilitha Telecommunications

    Led the roll-out of 30,000 fibre homes in KwaZulu-Natal.

  • 2016 – 2024

    Head of Commercial and two-term CEO, Project Isizwe

    Ran the Tshwane municipal free Wi-Fi network, serving 600,000 users a month.

  • 2016 – 2023

    Chair, Wireless Access Providers' Association

    Twice elected Chair of WAPA; still on its management committee.

  • 2007 – 2016

    Co-founder, Airband South Africa

    Built a KZN wireless network from scratch, grew it to R15m turnover and sold it to Herotel.

Has raised connectivity funding from

Glencore · Global Innovation Fund · Acciona · Sappi · Seriti · Investec · Sibanye-Stillwater · Anglo American · 48percent.org

Our connectivity partner

Backed by AFR-IX.

AFR-IX Telecom supplies wholesale connectivity to internet service providers in South Africa and across the continent, with a point of presence at the Digital Parks Africa data centre in Samrand. Because Argenco is AFR-IX's business development partner, when your network needs more capacity you're dealing with someone who already knows your business.

Visit afr-ix.co.za

IP transit that keeps pace with you

  • Upstream capacity that grows as your subscriber base grows
  • A network built to bring connectivity closer to ISPs
  • One point of contact who knows your growth plans

Let's grow your network.

Tell Tim where your network is today and where you want it to be. Based in Knysna, working with ISPs across South Africa.