CC image courtesy of USAF Civil Engineering on Flickr
South Africa’s second operator MTN is pushing forward with aggressive deployment of fibre to the home (FTTH) in high-density urban areas, with a view to a commercial launch of the offering by June.
The operator said the rollout follows a trial of its high-speed FTTH service in a gated community outside of Johannesburg, which saw the successful commercial delivery of FTTH capable of 100 mbps for the first time in Africa – with over 60 per cent of trial participants having signed up for the service.
MTN is currently working on deploying the service in high-population areas such as high-rise buildings, gated communities and boomed-off suburbs, with an anticipated launch date of June 1.
“We are massively excited by the momentum that our pre-launch has already created,” said Eben Albertyn, chief technology officer (CTO) of MTN South Africa.
“By pioneering the technology in South Africa (and indeed Africa, for the current set of speeds on offer), we are sealing our position as the provider of choice.”
Pricing of the service is only available to residents in launch areas, and will be negotiated on a case-by-case basis depending on the amount of infrastructure, civil engineering, and internet speed desired.
Further FTTH roll out will be demand driven, with MTN inviting homeowner associations and the public to express their interest in the service by contacting the operator directly on [email protected].
“What I look forward to the most, is how fibre to the home opens up the door to making the Connected Home a reality,” said Mike Fairon, general manager of products and solutions at MTN SA.
HumanIPO reported in November last year South African part state-owned operator Telkom told HumanIPO it would launch commercial FTTH services by the end of 2014, with trials of a 100 mbps service “proceeding well”.
The country’s dominant operator Vodacom has told HumanIPO it is working on launching FTTH offerings, but had no details or timeframe.
“We’re actively rolling out fibre in business parks. We’re getting ready to do the same in gated communities and are currently building the fibre backbones to make this possible. It’s too early to give any concrete details on FTTH,” said a Vodacom spokesperson.
