Telecommunications group MTN is preparing to commercially launch high-speed fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) in June after completing a successful pilot project earlier this month in Johannesburg.
MTN is currently aggressively deploying the technology to high-density urban areas, such as high-end gated communities, boomed-off suburbs and high-rise buildings, said MTN South Africa chief technology officer Eben Albertyn in a statement this week.
“[On April 12,] MTN SA demonstrated its high-speed FTTH [capable of 100 Mb/s] to residents of Monaghan Farm – an ecofriendly gated estate, 30 km north of Johannesburg,” he explained.
More than 60% of the Monaghan Farm estate residents had since signed up, with estimated connectivity in mid-May.
The implementation of the technology would be demand-driven, with pricing, which was currently only available to estate residents, negotiated on a case-by-case basis, dependent on the amount of infrastructure and civil engineering required for each estate.
The Internet speed offerings would range from 10 Mb/s to 100 Mb/s.
“Speed trials at the prelaunch event clocked up to 150.2 Mb/s, while earlier this year, MTN demonstrated lab trials of up to 1 Gb/s on their fibre network,” Albertyn concluded.