Fibertime to Expand Fiber Broadband in Underserved Regions of South Africa

Fibertime will deploy Nokia’s fiber solution to rapidly expand broadband access to underserved regions of South Africa, increasing coverage to five cities and 14 townships. The initiative aims to connect 1.5 million households using Nokia’s fiber solutions, including Lightspan FX Optical Line Terminals (OLTs) and Wi-Fi 6-enabled Optical Network Terminals (ONTs).

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Also Read: Elisa Trials 100G PON Over Live Fiber Broadband Network

Expanding Access to Underserved Areas

According to the official release, Fibertime’s flagship service will offer “R5 a day” uncapped, unthrottled internet, providing an accessible alternative to costly mobile data plans, which can be up to 70 times more expensive per gigabit.

Currently, less than 85 percent of South Africans have access to high-speed broadband. The fiber deployment will initially cover Cape Town, Johannesburg, Gqeberha, Mangaung, and Stellenbosch, with plans to expand further across the region.

Nokia’s Technology to Support Deployments

As part of the agreement, Fibertime will deploy 500,000 Nokia Wi-Fi 6-enabled ONTs over the next 36 months, focusing on underserved homes. Nokia’s ONT Easystart will streamline installation, while the Altiplano platform will support network scalability through automation. Both companies are also exploring R&D initiatives to enhance connectivity for Africa’s remote areas, Nokia said in a statement on Monday.

Also Read: Nokia Integrates AI into Altiplano Access Controller for Enhanced Network Automation

Bridge the Digital Divide

Nokia, said: “Our scalable OLT portfolio provides flexible coverage for both densely populated and rural areas. Paired with our Wi-Fi 6-enabled ONTs, we enable fast, automated onboarding. Together, these solutions allow Fibertime to speed up deployments and provide the capacity to bring thousands of customers online at once.”