The Fibre Land Grab

 The race to supply customers with fibre optic cables is becoming ever more aggressive, with companies making major plays to become the top service provider.

- Lloyd Gedye

Many of us have been through it. The first hint appears at the corners of your residential block. Mine was some pink fabric, wrapped around a few poles, to make sure nobody fell into a giant hole that had been dug. Pretty soon the work crews descended on our street, digging up trenches to lay fibre.

There was some collateral damage; a few delicately maintained verges took a knock. But within a week or two the street had returned to a semblance of its former self. Freshly laid concrete to fill trenches ran down the street, scars from the surgery that had taken place.

Our neighbourhood had fibre; we waited for the sales pitch.

Seeing as we live in a low- to middle-income area, it’s not surprising that it wasn’t a major priority for the fibre companies. But even suburbs like ours are now future assets in the land grab that is taking place across South Africa’s major cities, geared at delivering high-speed internet to homes and businesses.