Fibertime expands fibre access to underserved communities

Nokia has announced that fibertime is expanding its fibre broadband access footprint to reach an additional 400,000 homes across South Africa’s underserved communities

This rollout is part of fibertime’s broader goal of connecting 2 million homes by 2028. The company will deploy a combination of Nokia’s IP and fibre access technologies to build semi-mobile networks in underserved areas, providing end-users with unlimited high-speed internet across homes, businesses, and communities.

Under the agreement, fibertime will deploy Nokia’s Lightspan access nodes and Wi-Fi 6 enabled fiber access points, using Nokia’s ONT Easy Start to automate and simplify fiber modem activation and streamline deployments. Fibertime will also implement Nokia’s 7750 Wireless Access Gateway to create a single SSID network, allowing customers to move around their townships while staying connected.

“With Nokia’s support, we’re able to significantly ramp up the roll-out of our low-cost, high-speed, fiber internet service to underserved township communities across South Africa. We’re now connecting 1,200 households a day to flexible, high-speed access — up to 950Mbps in some cases — without the need for contracts or debit orders. Once a township is connected, customers simply buy vouchers at a local spaza, retail outlet, or via their banking app, enter the voucher number in their fibertime app, and immediately have access to unlimited and unthrottled fiber-to-the-home internet at a cost of R5 per day,” said Danvig De Bruyn, CEO, fibertime.

To further enhance automation and scalability across its network, fibertime will also deploy Nokia’s Altiplano and Network Services Platform solutions, along with the Altiplano Fiber Health Analyzer, which detects network anomalies and identifies potential issues before they escalate.

“Nokia’s automation and AI-powered tools not only help us to improve operational efficiencies but also enhance the reliability of our FTTH network. We can now detect disruptions earlier and resolve incidents more quickly to ultimately improve the subscriber experience,” commented De Bruyn.

“Reliable broadband is critical for thriving communities—powering education, healthcare, and local economies. Yet too many people remain unconnected because of the unique challenges tied to where they live. With our fiber and IP solutions, we’re changing that, bringing broadband services to thousands of customers at once, in regions once considered too difficult to serve,” said Sandy Motley, president, Fixed Networks, Nokia.  

The agreement to connect an additional 400,000 homes builds on a previous announcement between Nokia and fibertime™ to deploy FTTH networks across Cape Town, Johannesburg, Gqeberha, Mangaung and Stellenbosch.