Optical & Fixed Networks

Future-proof fibre network to connect South Africa

A new ultra-high-speed long-distance fibre network is launching in South Africa, with the first stage of construction comprising of a 2000km link between Johannesburg and Cape Town connecting Bloemfontein, East London, and Port Elizabeth...

A new ultra-high-speed long-distance fibre network is launching in South Africa, with the first stage of construction comprising of a 2000km link between Johannesburg and Cape Town connecting Bloemfontein, East London, and Port Elizabeth.

Open-access network provider FibreCo Telecommunications is using optical fibre provided by Corning for the deployment. The subsequent phases of the project will see additional routes being built to enhance network redundancy and resilience. The project’s total distance will cover 12,000 km.

Arif Hussain, FibreCo CEO, said: “Many submarine optical cables now connect South Africa to the rest of the world and a significant increase in terrestrial fibre capacity supply is required. Our network will provide the necessary high-speed capacity in South Africa as well as the ability for our customers to easily upgrade their networks to higher data rates without the need to re-install fibre.”

This is the first deployment of SMF-28e+ LL fibre in South Africa. SMF-28e+ LL fibre offers a unique combination of low attenuation values and low polarisation mode dispersion (PMD) with ITU G.652.D-compliant performance for longer spans and reach. Also, SMF-28e+ LL fibre enables more repair margin which is important when fibre is damaged or cut.

LEAF fiber is the most widely-deployed, non-zero dispersion shifted fibre. It also has lowest attenuation and largest effective area of any ITU-T G.655-compatible optical fibre, enabling networks to evolve from the current 10 Gb/s to the 40 Gb/s and 100 Gb/s systems of the future.



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