• Nokia & Fibertime to add 400 000 township homes to SA fibre using Lightspan, Wi-Fi 6 & 7750 WAG for seamless single-SSID roaming.

• Prepaid ZAR 5/day vouchers give 24 h uncapped access, no contracts; rollout part of Fibertime’s 2 million-home fibre plan by 2028.

• Project backs SA Connect’s 2030 universal broadband goal, expanding Nokia’s African fixed-access reach with AI-driven reliability.

Nokia and Fibertime will extend fibre-to-the-home coverage to an additional 400 000 premises in South Africa’s underserved townships, the companies confirmed on 6 October 2025. The network is built with Nokia’s Lightspan access nodes, Wi-Fi 6 fibre access points and the 7750 Wireless Access Gateway; these create a single SSID that lets subscribers move around a township without losing connection.

Activation is handled by Nokia’s ONT Easy Start platform, which automates modem provisioning and removes the need for a technician visit.

Customers buy a prepaid voucher priced at ZAR 5 per day from spaza shops or banking apps; the voucher gives 24 hours of uncapped data with no contract or debit order. Fibertime advertises speeds “up to 950 Mbps” in some areas, while its public tariff page lists the standard product as uncapped 100 Mbps for the same daily fee. The 400 000-home phase is part of Fibertime’s previously stated plan to pass two million homes by 2028.

According to the 2023/24 Government Communication and Information System yearbook, only 14.5 % of South African households had fixed internet access in 2023, against the national policy target of universal broadband by 2030 set out in South Africa Connect. The initiative aligns with similar efforts across Africa—such as Liquid Intelligent Technologies’ fiber expansions, MTN’s rural broadband pilots, and Google’s Equiano subsea cable, which collectively aim to improve access and reduce data costs across the continent.

For Nokia, the agreement reinforces its position as a key enabler of Africa’s broadband infrastructure, expanding its footprint in fixed access and IP automation solutions. For Fibertime, it provides a technological edge to scale faster, automate operations, and enhance reliability through AI-powered tools like Altiplano Fiber Health Analyzer, which detects and prevents network faults before they disrupt service.

Hikmatu Bilali