by MTHULISI SIBANDA
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – HUAWEI has outlined the priority areas shaping its approach in South Africa.
These include faster backbone networks, more stable industry networks, more seamless campus connectivity and safer optical technologies.
That strategy is already taking shape in local deployments, including South Africa’s first 800G backbone network with Broadband Infraco (BBI) and the first 100G private power network with Eskom.
Officials disclosed this at the recent Huawei OptiX Club 2026, hosted in Johannesburg, focusing on the role of optical networks in enabling faster, smarter digital environments.
The event comes as artificial intelligence (AI) adoption accelerates and organisations rethink the network infrastructure required to support data-intensive workloads.
The event brought together more than 120 customers, partners and industry stakeholders to explore how AI is changing the demands placed on enterprise networks.
Opening the event, York Ning, Director of Huawei South Africa ICT Marketing and Solution Sales Department, noted that intelligent upgrades still depended on a stable network foundation.
“Frankly speaking, in the AI era, networks are the foundation. Networks must be fast and reliable, and optical communication is key. Without a high-quality optical network, even the most powerful AI cannot perform effectively,” he said.
Ning said Huawei was willing to work together with all partners to seize the new opportunities of the AI era and achieve new breakthroughs in business development.
Dr Bello Moussa, Chief Technology Officer of Huawei Southern Africa Enterprise Government and Public Utility Account Department, described F5G Advanced as the next stage of fixed-network development.
“As AI, enterprise digitisation and immersive applications continue to expand, fibre is becoming a core layer of digital infrastructure across homes, campuses, industries and critical services,” he said.
Justin Liu, Director of Huawei’s Intelligent Campus Marketing and Solution Sales Department, focused on how AI and all-optical networking can benefit campus environments.
“As the physical environment where people work, live and learn, AI is now moving from the digital world into the physical world,” Liu said.
Alwin Yin, Solution Architect at Huawei’s Optical Product Line, focused on the transport layer behind AI-era networks.
“Industries such as power, rail and government need optical backbone infrastructure with more bandwidth,” Yin said.
Botshelo Bianca Matome, Solutions Architect at Huawei South Africa Enterprise Network Solutions Sales Department, explained how fibre sensing could be used to detect faults and unusual activity faster.
“Optical fibre can act as connectivity infrastructure and be used to detect changes in temperature, vibration and strain,” she explained.
– CAJ News