Two years after the Fibre to the Home Council (FTTH) Africa set up a presence in South Africa the body is only now planning to expand its presence into the rest of Africa.
The FTTH Council Africa is an industry group that says it supports fibre optic companies and operators with standards and best practises. Issues the body deal with range from job creation to that of economic development.
According to its website, the FTTH Council Africa is a not for profit, independent organisation established in the latter parts of 2010. It is a sister organisation to the FTTH Council Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, Middle East and North Africa.
The council’s chief executive Juanita Clark has told ITWeb Africa that the reason for the organisation only looking to extend its reach into the continent as of today is because it has had limited resources.
Clark has said that just five people, a mix of contracted and full time employees, work for FTTH Africa in South Africa.
Nevertheless, the organisation is opening up invitations to African firms involved in the fibre space.
“We believe the timing is right to reach out to the rest of Africa and provide them with the support that we have, to date, mostly provided to South African companies regarding the rapid expansion of fibre optic networks,” said Richard Came, FTTH Council Africa president in a statement.
Clark added,“The industry is still in its infancy on the African continent and it faces tremendous challenges in unregulated environments
“Being a member of the International Global Alliance Group of Fibre Optic Councils means FTTH Council Africa has access to best practises and standards from our sister organisations throughout the world who are substantially ahead of us in deployment rates and technologies.
“We have developed a Standard for Civils which we would like to share with Regulators across Africa. These can easily be adapted to unique ‘in-country’ conditions. We believe that, ultimately, the foundation for deployment remains the same.” said Clark.
The FTTH Council has gone as far as to invite all industry participants across the continent, on council level as a member or on a discussion basis, to attend the FTTH Council Africa conference in Cape Town on 12 and 13 November.
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