by TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – FIBERTIME is to deploy Nokia’s fibre solution to rapidly expand broadband access to underserved regions of South Africa.
The internet provider will connect the next 1,5 million customers leveraging Nokia’s Lightspan FX Optical Line Terminals (OLTs) and Wi-Fi 6 enabled Optical Network Terminals (ONTs).
The fibre deployment will initially cover Cape Town, Johannesburg, Gqebera, Mangaung and Stellenbosch, with plans to rapidly expand into additional countries and communities.
As part of the agreement, Fibertime will deploy 500,000 Nokia Wi-Fi 6 enabled ONTs over the next 36-months, prioritizing homes in underserved areas.
The partnership will boost Fibertime’s flagship product, the R5 (US$0,28) a day for uncapped internet.
Sandy Motley, President of Fixed Networks at Nokia, said, Nokia’s fibre solution was uniquely positioned to help Fibertime reach millions of underserved customers needing high-speed broadband for essential services like online education and telehealth.
The official said the scalable OLT portfolio provided flexible coverage for both densely populated and rural areas, and paired with Wi-Fi 6-enabled ONTs, enabled fast, automated onboarding.
“Together, these solutions allow Fibertime to speed up deployments and provide the capacity to bring thousands of customers online at once,” Motley said.
According to the companies, currently, less than 85 percent of South Africans have access to high-speed broadband, leaving many reliant on costly mobile plans that are up to 70 times more expensive per gigabit than fibre.
Alan Knott-Craig, Founder of Fibertime, said with Nokia’s support, they are confident in their ability to reach 1,5 million homes within the next five years.
They aim to unlock an untapped market of 13 million homes in South Africa.
That market is forecast to need approximately R60 billion of investment over the coming decade and to generate reliable returns for investors.
“The market opportunity is akin to that presented to mobile operators when they expanded into prepaid markets,” Knott-Craig said.
– CAJ News