Huawei collaborates with BBI in Building an Intelligent All-Optical Backbone Network to Advance South Africa’s National Broadband Strategy

South Africa’s national broadband infrastructure company Broadband Infraco (BBI) has partnered with Huawei to build a national intelligent all-optical backbone network. The network directly supports the goals of South Africa’s national broadband strategy, SA Connect, and will bring affordable, stable, and high-quality broadband to all people in South Africa.

As a state-owned enterprise mandated by the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) to expand South Africa’s broadband infrastructure, BBI is implementing the upgrade as part of its Backbone Network Expansion Strategy. The collaboration aims to extend ICT infrastructure nationwide and make connectivity more affordable, closing gaps between urban and rural areas as well as between South Africa and industrialized nations.

BBI has utilized Huawei’s Optical Cross-Connect (OXC) technology to deliver high-speed, flexible transmission with 800G wavelengths across its network—a leap that will support the vast expansion of broadband access networks envisioned under SA Connect. It also enables massive volumes of data to be transferred between cities or data centers in real time, powering applications in healthcare, education, e-commerce, and e-government, as well as fueling South Africa’s digital economy.

To date, through its intelligent all-optical backbone and partnerships with local service providers, BBI has connected over 13,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots and more than 2 million homes in rural areas nationwide and regions with underdeveloped network services. The network will also support South Africa’s new optical fibre route, which connects Johannesburg to the Kopfontein border, thereby strengthening high-speed cross-border connectivity across the SADC region. The full backbone will span all nine provinces of South Africa and extend to the borders with Botswana, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, and Zimbabwe, providing broad regional access.

Gift Zowa, CEO of Broadband Infraco, summarized the mission by saying, "We are bridging the digital divide on two fronts, closing the digital inequality gap at home and narrowing the gap between South Africa and the world’s most industrialized nations. We are addressing one of SA Connect’s primary goals, the DCDT’s flagship broadband connectivity project, to make connectivity inclusive and bring stable, high-capacity broadband to all South African communities and government facilities by 2030"

Huawei will continue to collaborate with Broadband Infraco to expand South Africa’s national broadband infrastructure, building a connected, intelligent, and prosperous society, where every South African can benefit from a digital future.