Nokia and fibertime have partnered to expand fibre broadband access in South Africa’s underserved communities.

This comes as fibertime broadens its footprint to include an additional 400 000 homes as part its larger goal of connecting two- million homes by 2028.

Fibertime will leverage 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 from anywhere in their home, business or community.

Under the agreement, fibertime will deploy Nokia’s Lightspan access nodes and WiFi 6 enabled fibre access points, using Nokia’s ONT Easy Start to automate and simplify the fibre modem activation process and streamline deployments.

Fibertime will also use Nokia’s 7750 Wireless Access Gateway to create a single SSID on their network that allows customers to walk around the township and stay connected.

“With Nokia’s support, we are able to significantly ramp up the roll-out of our low-cost, high-speed, fibre Internet service to underserved township communities across South Africa,” says fibertime CEO Danvig De Bruyn.

“We are now connecting 1 200 households a day to flexible, high-speed access – up to 950 Mb/s in some cases – without the need for contracts or debit orders.”

Once a township is connected, customers can buy vouchers at a local spaza shop, retail outlet or through their banking application, enter the voucher number in their fibertime app, and immediately have access to unlimited and unthrottled fibre-to-the-home Internet at a cost of R5 a day: fibertime’s flagship product which Nokia’s technologies are key to enabling.

To further drive automation and scale across its network, fibertime will also deploy Nokia’s Altiplano and Network Services Platform solutions along with its Altiplano Fiber Health Analyzer, which can detect network anomalies and identify 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 fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network. We can now detect disruptions earlier and resolve incidents more quickly to ultimately improve the subscriber experience,” says de Bruyn.

Reliable broadband is critical for thriving communities, to powering education, healthcare and local economies; however, many people remain unconnected because of the unique challenges tied to where they live.

“With our fibre and IP solutions, we are changing that, bringing broadband services to thousands of customers at once, in regions once considered too difficult to serve,” says Nokia fixed networks president Sandy Motley.

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.