Today, fibre is no longer just a nice to have, but a requirement. Government agrees, which is why there are plans in place for more widespread fibre rollout across the country’s outlying and previously disadvantaged areas. Vuma continues to lead the pack in this regard as the fibre network operator continues to work towards extending the reach of affordable fibre connectivity products to areas of the country that would not have previously been considered, in an effort to help bridge the major digital divide that exists between South Africa’s communities.

Vuma is a leading South African fibre provider that has passed more than over 1,5 million homes, with at least a future 2 million homes-passed anticipated in emerging markets since its operations began in 2014. Vuma connects South African communities to high-speed, fit-for-purpose internet through open-access fibre broadband. Working with more than 60 Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Vuma's value extends beyond infrastructure and empowers ordinary individuals and communities across South Africa to do more, see more, and dream of more.   

While incredible progress has been made between the days of dial-up and today, 28% of the country’s population is still without internet access entirely – that’s over 16.5 million people who remain offline and unable to tap into the world of opportunities enabled through connectivity – from educational and professional platforms and resources, to access to your favourite entertainment and ability to socialise online.

Internet nostalgia 

Millennials, and maybe even some of their tech-savvy parents, have fond memories of booting up their old desktop computers, waiting patiently as Windows 95 loaded, and then waiting some more for their dial up wizard to connect to the World wide web. (Mind you, this would still be considered an upgrade compared to the 75 bytes per second connection speeds available in the late 1980s when the internet was first introduced in South Africa, at Rhodes University.)

How did we get where we are today?

Childhood nostalgia aside, the first days of the internet in South Africa were a bigger deal than we realised back then, paving the way for advancements in connectivity technology in the future and changing the face of communication and information technology for the country at large along the way.

By the early 90s, businesses and individuals could now register domains and launch their own websites. Speeds improved to around 4Mbps at this time, and even more so around 2008 as broadband internet became more readily available, allowing more households to connect to ADSL.

However, ADSL connections were still expensive and not every household could afford it (this was of course before smart device technology and mobile connectivity were as readily available as they are now). Data was capped, which meant that internet usage was limited to a certain amount per month before users would have to fork out extra money for out- of-bundle rates, or accept being cut off from the internet entirely.

As people began to rely more on the internet for nearly every aspect of daily life, from grocery shopping to communicating with loved ones near and far, the demand for fast, reliable and affordable internet connectivity skyrocketed, leaving ADSL’s ageing technology struggling to keep up.

Mobile network technologies like 2G and later 3G became sought after commodities in the process, allowing people to access the internet on the go, albeit not at the fastest connection speeds at the time.

Fast forward to more modern times

Enter fibre optic technology at around 2009, offering a much more efficient alternative to the outdated copper line structures that were used to power ADSL, but unfortunately at this point still not widely accessible to homes or even businesses. Fibre internet offerings have grown substantially since, and remains the most stable and, in the long run, affordable type of connectivity available.

Add to this the fact that the majority of South Africans are still accessing the internet on their mobile phones – granted, mobile connectivity allows more people to access the internet, but mobile data isn’t cheap, and the stability of the connection is dependent on proximity to signal towers. 

South Africa has come a long way on its connectivity journey, but for all intents and purposes, is still on the backfoot when it comes to access to fast, affordable and reliable internet connectivity for all. It is very much up to the private and telecommunications sectors to support government’s mission to drive infrastructure development and installations, especially in remote and traditionally underserviced areas of the country, with the help from government in creating an even more enabling regulatory environment.

Having companies do their part by proactively and positively extending the reach of connectivity , our country has the potential to close the access and affordability gaps that exist.