New data forecasts that the number of\u00a0fibre-to- the-home\/building (FTTH\/B) subscriptions in South Africa will reach 127,000 by the end of 2018.<\/p>\n
The South African entertainment and media outlook: 2014 \u2013 2018, published by financial services company PwC, pointed to about 7,000 FTTH\/B subscriptions in South Africa at the end of 2013.<\/p>\n
Neotel is one operator to offer such services, which are aimed for the business market at present, PwC said.<\/p>\n
However, it noted that new FTTH\/B deployments by the big mobile operators MTN and Vodacom, as well as Telkom and Dark Fibre Africa would fuel a spike in subscriptions over the next few years.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Vodacom Business announced the launch of its FTTB services in South Africa, with the initial rollout phase coming to selected business parks in Gauteng, Cape Town, and Durban.<\/p>\n
Vodacom reached an agreement to acquire Neotel for R7 billion in May 2014: Neotel\u2019s focus is also on FTTx in the business market.<\/p>\n
In September and October 2013, Telkom announced a programme to upgrade its DSL packages for direct business and residential customers, as well as for ISPs that re-sell Telkom\u2019s services.<\/p>\n
Additionally, the company announced plans to roll out FTTH services to more than 20 local suburbs by the end of 2014, PwC said.<\/p>\n
After a successful pilot at a gated estate, Monaghan Farms, near Johannesburg, MTN announced that it had connected its first FTTH customers in June 2014.<\/p>\n
A rollout to other high-end residential communities, as well to high-density urban areas, is under way. The service offers speeds of up to 100Mbps, PwC’s report said.<\/p>\n
Vodacom fibre-to-the-business pricing revealed<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n New fibre-to-the-home suburbs announced<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n