CC image courtesy of USAF Civil Engineering on Flickr
South Africa’s second mobile operator MTN has confirmed the deployment of fibre to the home (FTTH) services has been delayed but is progressing well, with consumers to glean the benefits of fibre connectivity within weeks.
HumanIPO reported in April MTN announced plans for the commercial deployment of FTTH services, following a successful trial of the offering in a gated community setting in Johannesburg, with the operator aiming for a June 1 launch date.
MTN today told HumanIPO although the project launch date has been moved by a few weeks progress has been positive.
“MTN’s Fibre to the Home (FTTH) deployment is progressing smoothly and some residents will enjoy the benefits of high speed broadband connectivity in a few weeks,” said Robin Maduray, general manager of transmission planning and optimisation at MTN South Africa.
“The fibre to the home network is being supported by the use of leading edge GPON technology. We have also deployed world class DWDM (Dense Wave Division Multiplexing) and CTN (Converged Transport Network) technology which is future-proof, reliable, and highly scalable with the ability to provide large capacity on demand,” Maduray said.
The operator said the FTTH forms “the most exciting part” of a broad-ranging upgrade strategy launched in 2009 aimed at self-providing transmission for its mobile and fixed line networks.
MTN said its transmission network has expanded accordingly, with approximately 12,000 kilometres of lit fibre, more than 5,000 active microwave links and over 76 per cent of its access site locations connected with the self-provided transmission network.
“MTN’s NLD (National Long Distance) fibre network deployment has thus far connected three major city centres within South Africa i.e. Durban, Johannesburg and Cape Town,” Maduray said.
“Simultaneously, MTN has built an extensive metro, aggregation, access and last mile network. The layered architecture network has been built to connect the major switching centres, the radio access sites and business customers. To date, there are approximately 2300 access sites connected with fibre.”
The operator said it is also looking for alternative routes to take to ensure there is no duplication of fibre, and remains open to new ideas and feedback in its bid to improve communications in South Africa.
“MTN continues to explore various options to co-build, self-build, swap and leasing of fibre routes, with other operators and/or interested parties, to rapidly expand its fibre footprint to prevent duplication of fibre infrastructure,” Maduray said.
“Furthermore, MTN have built strategic Microwave routes in rural areas to complement the fibre roll-out and are similarly investigating partnerships with other interested parties.
“We will continue to adapt to change and continuously improve the way we do business thus ensuring that MTN’s transmission network plays a pivotal role in the future of telecoms in South Africa. The feedback that MTN has received has been encouraging.”
