While fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) and high-speed, reliable Internet may appear to be nothing more than a pipe dream for South African communities that are not part of the country's financial elite, considerable potential – and possibilities – for rural benefit do exist.

This is the good news from industry observers, and comes amid the burgeoning hype around FTTH as more and more local communities – at least eight as it stands – are investing time and energy in deployment.

However, meaningful contribution to broadband across SA, in particular rural SA, relies largely on input from government, political will and investment, says Juanita Clark, CEO of the FTTH Council Africa. While upmarket areas are seeing monetisation of fibre-optic networks – opening up vast opportunity for operators – the irony is that fibre will benefit rural communities equally, if not more, than urban societies, says Clark.

Broad benefit
Ovum analyst Richard Hurst says despite the current focus on gated communities and upmarket areas, there will be a benefit to broadband in the country as a whole, as the other broadband platforms will carry less of a strain and be able to deliver a more enhanced service. "At the same time, operators are expected to push their wireless platforms to the more underserviced areas of the country, thus increasing the penetration of broadband services."

The real benefit of FTTH, says Hurst, is that it will enable a fresh array of rich services, which will change end-users' perceptions of what can be achieved with broadband. The broad benefits – including e-education, e-health, social inclusion and working from home – are obvious, says Clark, but the how is what lies in question. "I have heard every argument on why it is not possible, and people love to remind me that we will never see ubiquitous FTTH access. While I agree with some of the arguments, I do believe that with the correct collaboration, the bulk of people in South Africa can have access to high-speed fibre."

Regime's role
With 80% of the cost of FTTH deployment being the trenching process, Clark says coming up with creative ways of reducing this would go a long way to bridging the divide. "The next thing needed would be collaboration between the public and private sector." Clark poses the possibility of using existing infrastructure. "Government already has a strategy to connect every household in the country with running water and electricity. Electricity cables need to reach end-users – just as fibre needs to." At the end of the day, she says, SA can see high-speed Internet access to rural communities, as well as FTTH in rural towns. "But we have to do things differently. Government departments cannot work in isolation anymore, but collaborative approaches are required to see how the one can support the other."

World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck says FTTH is very much a facility for the haves, and not the have-nots at this stage – but a "World Cup type of investment" in bringing fibre to every town and suburb in SA could see the scenario change. "The more demand rises and more efficient fibre-laying becomes, the cheaper it gets. With greater demand come economies of scale. In SA, at the moment, there are not enough economies of scale. We have also not seen serious efforts by the likes of Telkom to push the idea until now. For the past five years, we have been saying Telkom is in a superb position for FTTH – but the company never had the vision. They have woken up to it now." He says it is exciting to see local FTTH initiatives emerging, as it is exactly these that will allow FTTH to take hold.

Clark says SA should watch this space as FTTH is set to take on a life of its own. "It is going to explode." She says SA can expect further projects that will start to change the face of the country through broadband in the not-too-distant future.