Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connectivity in South Africa is highest in 2022.
Last year, fibre network operators (FNOs) continued a price war triggered by higher bandwidth needs among families during the Covid-19 pandemic.
At the time of writing, there were approximately 1. 45 million FTTH consumers on seven major fibre networks in South Africa.
The largest of these, Vumatel, Openserve and MetroFibre, sold more than 100,000 new homes in 2022.
The table below shows the number of families served through FTTH connectivity and the number of families connected to the largest NWFs in the country, based on the most recent data available.
MyBroadband surveyed the nation’s largest carriers about their peak milestones and challenging situations in 2022.
Herotel said it had 150,000 active consumers in its fiber and wireless jobs at the time of its comments, representing a 50% visitor expansion over the next two years.
Unlike other carriers, its network is closed-access, serving all those consumers as an Internet Service Provider (ISP).
“Herotel has completed a significant new structure in each and every province and now has a significant presence in most of South Africa’s primary secondary cities,” the operator told MyBroadband.
The operator’s main challenge in 2022 was load reduction, but it invested heavily in backup strength in its network to make certain visitor connectivity disruptions.
Frogfoot’s chief development officer, Shane Chorley, said the operator has focused on building a more sustainable and robust grid in 2022 after exponential expansions in recent years.
“This includes strengthening the company’s internal structures and creating key new employees, in order to better serve the company’s ISP customers, as well as deploying a nationwide long-distance dark network,” Chorley said.
He said the operator has also made a significant investment to increase the availability of nodes in Frogfoot’s network and that of its partners, especially when it comes to backup batteries for load reduction.
“The grid can now level load shedding 6,” Chorley said, adding that the FNO would continue to invest in backup strength as there seemed to be no end in sight for load shedding.
“There is also a growing need to monitor issues such as correct voltages when force returns after a pressure drop episode, as this damages electrical or electronic equipment. “
Chorley said another challenge for Frogfoot was the service point provided through some ISPs reselling its products, prompting the FNO to hire its own visiting staff.
“We have hired a service of visitors who interact directly with users of Frogfoot’s netpaintings, respond to court cases on forums such as social media, and then work with affected ISPs to address their concerns,” Chorley said.
The chip crisis has also noted that Frogfoot revels in delays in optical network terminal (NTB) installations, even though a garage has been installed to alleviate shortages.
Luckily, Frogfoot planned to upgrade its network well in advance, so it had no issues with the backbone critical appliance inventory, which can have a 12- to 18-month lead time.
“While chip shortages still persist, they deserve to be for too long, before we succeed in a cycle of oversupply,” Chorley said.
MetroFibre said it is now the third largest FNO in the country in terms of beyond homes, which stood at more than 450,000 at the time of writing.
The MyBroadband operator that exceeded 140,000 in 2022 alone.
New spaces covering the 2022 launch included sites in Durban and on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal, as well as Thembisa, Johannesburg South, Kwa Thema, Port Elizabeth, St. Francis, Jeffreys Bay, Beaufort West, Queenstown, Bloemhof, Christiana, Warrenton, Riverside View, Pretoria and Centurion.
It has begun expanding to Cape Town, where it plans to complete its deployment in 2023.
MetroFibre said its biggest challenge of the year had been violent structure disruptions and intimidation from “mafia structure” teams that are not easy to get involved in fiber projects.
In addition, flooding in KwaZulu-Natal in April 2022 posed a challenge for deployments in this region.
Load loss has also made it more complicated to manage service interruptions, while the company’s operating prices have increased due to measures put in place to counter those outages.
“We have our network ready to serve through Stage 6 of load shutdown, and we have plans in place if we succeed at higher grades in the new year,” MetroFibre said.
Telkom’s fixed-line wholesale department said it had surpassed one million families by 2022, 46. 2% of whom were connected to its network at the time of writing.
The trader said its most demanding situations were a sluggish economy, emerging electricity and fuel prices, emerging interest rates and high unemployment, putting pressure on consumers and businesses.
Octatel CEO Trevor van Zyl said the Western Cape-based operator had expanded its network to 50,000 new homes a year, bringing its total number to 300,000.
It also connected 22,000 new consumers to its network, reaching the 100,000 mark for the total number of connections.
Van Zyl said Octotel’s entire network is now connected to the operator’s backhaul, providing several advantages.
“Most important is our ability to offer our ISPs and end consumers unmatched network performance, availability, price and scalability,” Van Zyl explained.
He said Octotel has faced several new and demanding situations in 2022, adding increased health and safety risks in cramped LSM spaces due to crime, gangs and structured mafias.
In addition to being more disruptive to staff, he said those demanding situations cause fiber to be deployed at the required rate.
“This has also resulted in an increase in home prices due to the deployment of more security measures in some areas,” Val Zyl said.
Van Zyl said fewer spaces met his feasibility criteria due to LSM levels, affordability and societal challenges.
In addition, it has encountered more party due to the “overconstruction” of the FNO.
Finally, the operator’s consumer churn rate is higher due to the activation of connectivity in the lower LSM areas, where consumers are more likely to fall into tough times and go offline due to affordability.
The nation’s largest fiber network operator among families did not answer our question about its key milestones in 2022.
It reached at least 1. 6 million homes with fiber and connected about 450,000.
It is also in the process of merging its network assets, along with those it owns through sister company DFA, with those of Vodacom to create a new infrastructure company called Maziv.
The company aims to optimize the fiber network operations of Vumatel and parent company DFA CIVH and Vodacom and increase their efficiency.
The merger is still being done through South African regulators.
Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Frogfoot Headline HeroTel Metrofibre OpenServe Telkom Vumatel
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