Recently, South Africa’s national broadband infrastructure company Broadband Infraco (BBI) has partnered with Huawei to build a national intelligent all-optical backbone network. This network will directly support the implementation of South Africa’s national broadband strategy – SA Connect, providing affordable, stable, and high-quality broadband network services for all people in South Africa, and will help South Africa become a leader in digital infrastructure innovation.

Broadband Infraco is a state-owned enterprise under the South African Department of Communications and Digital Technology (DCDT), responsible for building South Africa’s broadband infrastructure. This cooperation is part of its backbone network upgrade strategy, aimed at expanding ICT infrastructure nationwide in South Africa, reducing connectivity costs, and narrowing the digital divide between urban and rural areas, as well as between South Africa and the world’s leading industrialized countries.

Broadband Infraco is based on Huawei’s all-optical switching (OXC) technology, achieving high-speed and flexible transmission of 800G per wavelength in its network, which can meet the needs of a large number of newly built broadband access networks in South Africa’s national broadband strategy SA Connect; At the same time, it will enable real-time transmission of massive data between cities or data centers, promoting the development of businesses such as healthcare, education, e-commerce, and digital government, and stimulating the vitality of South Africa’s digital economy.

At present, based on the 800G intelligent all-optical backbone network and cooperation with local network service providers, Broadband Infraco has achieved network connectivity for over 13000 public Wi Fi hotspots and over 2 million households in remote or underdeveloped areas of South Africa. At the same time, the network plan supports the construction of a new fiber optic link connecting Johannesburg and the border of Kopphontan, strengthening cross-border high-speed connectivity in the Southern African Development Community (SAVC) region; Eventually, the backbone network is planned to cover all nine provinces in South Africa and extend to the borders with Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Eswatini and Zimbabwe, providing extensive regional network access services.

Gift Zowa, CEO of Broadband Infraco, stated, “We are bridging the digital divide from two perspectives: one is narrowing the gap in domestic digital inequality, and the other is narrowing the gap between South Africa and the world’s leading industrialized countries. We are achieving one of the main goals of our ‘SA Connect’ broadband strategy, which is to build a digitally inclusive network connection by 2030, providing stable, high-capacity broadband services to all people, communities, and organizational facilities in South Africa.”

Huawei will continue to assist Broadband Infraco in building South Africa’s national broadband infrastructure, creating an interconnected, intelligent, and prosperous digital world where every South African can benefit from the digital future.