[Johannesburg, South Africa, Feb 6, 2024] MTN South Africa and Huawei have completed Africa’s first scale deployment of an 800G optical network, marking a major step towards green and reliable networks that power Africa’s digital and sustainable development.
The 800G links were built, with a single fiber capacity of 48 Tbps, to connect data centers in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town. This domestic backbone will meet MTN’s growing capacity requirements for its cloud-based business services, enhanced home broadband and wireless networks. It also provides optimal cost per bit and improved energy efficiency. As a result, MTN SA becomes the leading company with this innovative transportation technology. This achievement is another major milestone in delivering on its promise to deliver best-in-class, energy-efficient and robust networks in Africa.
MTN SA has used Huawei’s leading optical transport solutions, including 400G/800G per channel, Optical Cross-Connect (OXC) and Automatically Switched Optical Network (ASON). The OXC solution has been deployed in the backbone nodes, not only to meet the long-term capacity and grade expansion requirements, but also to improve the energy efficiency of the network by reducing power consumption by 60% compared to conventional ROADM technology. The ASON solution offers the reliability, flexibility and robustness required by the next generation of optical transport, while enabling service differentiation and reducing operation and maintenance costs.
Takalani Ligudu, Senior Specialist in Core Fiber and Transmission at MTN SA, said: “The development of 800G, OXC and ASON scale with Huawei is a result of MTN’s clear vision to lead the delivery of a bold new digital world to customers. MTN is proud to have one of the world’s most advanced networks and uses leading edge technologies to deliver superior network services for our customers across South Africa.”
Victor Zhou, president of Huawei’s optical transmission business, said: “It is a great honor to work with MTN SA to bring the leading and green optical technologies to South Africa, creating an advanced optical network for digital development.