It has taken some time to get up to speed, but South Africa is now finally on the high road with regard to fibre adoption. Fibre overtook copper globally in 2016. We are not there yet, but the crossover point is looming ever closer, thanks to aggressive pre-emptive investment, demonstrating confidence in entrepreneurial open access players.

A key benefit of fibre optic cable for broadband access is that the actual strands of fibre used can carry far higher data speeds than service providers are currently offering, allowing for significant future upgrades. South Africans need to embrace the opportunity but ensure that the benefits are widely shared, or they are not benefits at all.