• Vuma has announced the integration of next-gen FTTH technology through its latest partnership with Huawei.
• It will see the first deployment of high-density symmetrical 50G PON in South Africa, which promises support for 10Gbps everywhere.
• Vuma is testing out the new technology, which will deliver more than the existing 2.5Gbps capabilities currently in use.

Local Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) connectivity provider Vuma and Huawei have announced a partnership on next-generation passive optical network (PON) technology. More specifically the pair are working to rollout high-density symmetrical 50G PON, which would support 10Gbps FTTH connectivity everywhere, according to the companies.

This announcement came at last week’s Huawei Eco-Connect conference held in Johannesburg, with Vuma now looking to test the new technology, which integrates GPON, 10G PON, and 50G PON into one port, allowing for service upgrade on demand.

“The partnership sees the launch of 50G PON capabilities – significantly higher than the existing 2.5Gbps capabilities currently in use. Following its testing phase, the deployment of this first to market technology will make considerably higher upload and download fibre broadband speeds accessible to Vuma customers across the provider’s FTTH network, meeting growing consumer demand for faster, higher capacity, and more stable connectivity,” the pair explained in a press release sent to Hypertext.

“Vuma’s investment in the testing and rollout of the new Huawei PON technology is future-proofing our network, which will allow us to enable much more capacity over the last mile fibre and increase speeds as our customers require – approximately 20 times faster than the current capabilities deployed,” enthused Francois Swart, CTO at Vuma.

As one of South Africa’s largest FTTH providers, this partnership should prove significant, both for Huawei and Vuma’s customers wanting access to faster connectivity speeds, once the testing phase is successfully completed.

“We’ve launched the best technology currently available in the African market with our top customer, Vuma, which speaks volumes to the values of innovation and empowerment through connectivity that Huawei and Vuma share,” noted Kim Jin, VP of Huawei’s Optical Business Product Line. 

“Through this partnership, our goal, much like Vuma’s, is to support increased connectivity access to all South Africans, and to bridge the gap in access to high quality digital services,” he concluded.

[Image – Provided]