News Infrastructures

South Africa Accelerates Broadband Future with Huawei-Backed National Fibre Backbone

South Africa Accelerates Broadband Future with Huawei-Backed National Fibre Backbone
Wednesday, 10 December 2025 10:03
  • South Africa’s BBI and Huawei are building a national optical backbone to meet SA Connect goals by 2030.
  • Huawei’s 800G tech enables real-time data flow to support healthcare, education, e-commerce, and e-government.
  • With broadband subscriptions doubling to 2.7 million, the project tackles both coverage and quality shortfalls.

South Africa's state-owned Broadband Infraco (BBI) has partnered with Huawei to build a national intelligent, all-optical backbone network, aiming to fulfil the government's broadband expansion goals under the SA Connect strategy. The partnership was announced on December 8.

BBI CEO Gift Zowa emphasised the mission to bridge the digital divide both within South Africa and between South Africa and more industrialised nations, aiming to provide inclusive, stable, and high-capacity broadband to all communities and government facilities by 2030, in line with SA Connect objectives.

This upgrade, under BBI's Backbone Network Expansion Strategy and mandated by the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT), targets affordable and high-quality broadband access across the country, reducing the urban-rural digital divide and aligning South Africa with global digital infrastructure standards.

The partnership leverages Huawei's Optical Cross-Connect (OXC) technology to deliver ultra-high-speed transmission at 800G wavelengths, enabling real-time large-scale data transfers between cities and data centres. This backbone will support vital sectors such as healthcare, education, e-commerce, and e-government, significantly bolstering South Africa’s digital economy.

This partnership comes at a pivotal time. According to the State of the ICT Sector Report of South Africa (March 2025) by the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), fixed broadband subscriptions have nearly doubled—from 1.4 million to 2.7 million—mainly driven by the rapid adoption of fibre-optic solutions offering greater speed and reliability.

However, despite this progress, South Africa continues to face challenges in broadband quality. As of 2025, the average fixed broadband speed stands at 48.51 Mbps, placing the country 52nd globally. These figures underscore the need for broader access and enhanced performance, which the Huawei–BBI partnership seeks to deliver.

This initiative directly supports SA Connect, South Africa’s national broadband policy approved by cabinet in 2013. It aims to achieve universal, affordable, high-speed internet access for all communities and government facilities. The strategy targets connectivity for public institutions, including schools, clinics, and police stations. The State Information Technology Agency (SITA) and Broadband Infraco (BBI) were mandated to provide the end-to-end broadband services under the initiative.

To date, BBI's network has connected over 13,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots and more than 2 million rural homes, and it includes a major new optical fibre route linking Johannesburg to the Kopfontein border.

For Huawei, the partnership offers significant economic and strategic value. The company stands to gain from multi-year infrastructure contracts, including the supply of high-capacity optical equipment and long-term network support services. These deals generate substantial revenue while embedding Huawei’s technology deep within South Africa’s digital backbone.

Hikmatu Bilali

On the same topic
Equatorial Guinea plans fleet expansion for Ceiba Intercontinental revival Government considering purchase of four to five new ATR...
The AfDB has approved about $357 million to pave a 156-km road in eastern Cameroon. The project targets the Ngoura II–Yokadouma section of a...
SEA-Invest is investing nearly CFA20 billion to modernize the mineral terminal at Abidjan’s port. The upgrades aim to handle rising flows of...
Transnet launched a tender to lease three secondary rail lines to private operators in eastern and central South Africa. The initiative seeks to...
Most Read
01

Togo parliament adopts WAEMU law against currency counterfeiting Bill defines offences including ...

Togo Passes Law to Criminalize Counterfeiting of West African CFA Franc
02

Since its 2019 IPO, Airtel Africa paid Deloitte over $37 million in audit and non-audit fees,...

Airtel Africa and Deloitte: A Seven-Year Relationship, $37 Million in Fees and a Planned Handover
03

CCR-UEMOA presents mid-term review of private sector competitiveness efforts Reforms, AfCFTA trai...

Strengthening the Business Climate in WAEMU Countries: CCR-UEMOA Reviews Its Midterm Record
04

World Bank announces $137 million to boost West Africa digital economy Program expands broad...

Benin, Liberia and Sierra Leone Receive $137M to Expand Digital Access for 5.2 Million People
05

Tilenga oil project required land from 4,954 households in Uganda Over 99% of affected households...

Report details land compensation for nearly 5,000 households in Uganda’s Tilenga oil project
Enter your email to receive our newsletter

Ecofin Agency provides daily coverage of nine key African economic sectors: public management, finance, telecoms, agribusiness, mining, energy, transport, communication, and education.
It also designs and manages specialized media, both online and print, for African institutions and publishers.

SALES & ADVERTISING

regie@agenceecofin.com 
Tél: +41 22 301 96 11 
Mob: +41 78 699 13 72


EDITORIAL
redaction@agenceecofin.com

More information
Team
Publisher

ECOFIN AGENCY

Mediamania Sarl
Rue du Léman, 6
1201 Geneva
Switzerland

 

Ecofin Agency is a sector-focused economic news agency, founded in December 2010. Its web platform was launched in June 2011. ©Mediamania.

 
 

Please publish modules in offcanvas position.