Connectivity

5g and fibre

5G is being rolled out across South Africa, bringing with it the promise of super-fast, low-latency, wireless internet connectivity. But does this mean fi bre will become redundant? By ANTHONY SHARPE

Not at all, is the answer from Zoltan Miklos, general manager of network planning at MTN South Africa. “When people talk about 5G, they often approach it from a radio perspective,” says Miklos, “but 5G is really an end-to-end architecture. You need to make sure the various building blocks of the network support 5G and its use cases. The radio base station elements, radio spectrum, high-capacity backhaul to the core network, the core network and supporting systems are all critical for 5G.”

Miklos says the main metros will use fi bre predominantly to support 5G deployments, because this is where infrastructural development has been concentrated. Where fi bre is not available, high-capacity microwave links are used, which can support bandwidths in excess of 1Gbit per second. “Ideally, you need 10Gbit per second connectivity to a 5G-enabled mobile base station site, which fi bre enables.”

Further enabling 5G and the required national network capacity is fi bre technology called dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM), which allows data signals from a variety of sources to share a single optical fi bre. “DWDM is used in the national optical transport network, which interconnects our core sites,” explains Miklos. “This high-availability core carries mobile, enterprise and wholesale traffi c.”

The business case

The interplay between fi bre and 5G is a complex one, both on a technical and business level. “Fibre won’t be deployed everywhere in South Africa, especially to the end user,” says Miklos. “The business case is diffi cult: low user density scenarios and high cost structures don’t allow for it to be deployed in some areas. There are long-haul fi bre routes outside the metros that connect remote locations. But for clusters that are far from fi bre infrastructure, long-haul microwave systems using multiple hops are required to provide high-bandwidth connectivity to these clusters.”

Key to deployment considerations, says Miklos, is the fact that capacity requirements vary between rural low-density areas and urban areas. “Ideally, if the capacity requirements grow over time, fi bre will be planned to those locations.”

While fi bre deployment is much more widespread in urban areas, it still requires capital investment prioritised by required bandwidth and the density of that demand. In some situations, 4G and 5G provide an opportunity to service fi xed connectivity requirements. “It is optimal to deploy fi bre as deep as possible, then have a wireless tail,” says Miklos. “A smart capital approach we follow is once there is suffi cient densifi cation of demand, then you extend the fi bre network to the user to augment the wireless infrastructure.”

SD-WAN: a paradigm shift for network management

Modern businesses nd themselves juggling sprawling, complex, diverse systems and applications, making reliable, comprehensive network management crucial. Softwarede ned wide-area networking (SD-WAN) presents a centralised solution for network management with the potential to greatly simplify the process. “A key bene t of SD-WAN is predictability,” says Julian Liebenberg, chief of converged communications at BCX. “In the previous dispensation, it was possible to con gure two devices on a network in such a way that they could not establish communication with each other. Now this is impossible: you’re using a centralised controller to establish connectivity between these devices, so by default your devices can communicate.”

Liebenberg says this represents a paradigm shift in terms of network management: you don’t need someone to con gure the network, because it con gures itself. What this means is that network management becomes more of a business than a technical case. “The network becomes part of your intelligence. It collects information about business transactions. You start to think about how to get more out of the network. Your applications can learn from it: perhaps sales of a product line are picking up in a given branch, so your application needs to behave in a different way. This provides far more real-time data than looking at month-end reports, but only if someone takes the time to program the network to give those values.” ›

Supporting your strategy

Although there is a glut of vendors offering quality SD-WAN solutions, Liebenberg says choosing one can be quite tricky. “Firstly, it is not interoperable. Each vendor is proprietary; you can’t pick two and run them concurrently, so you need to make the right decision rst time.”

A second consideration is to what degree the SD-WAN supports your software-de ned networking (SDN) strategy, as very few vendors do this comprehensively. “SDN covers the LAN – wireless and cable, which is software-de ned access. Then there’s the SD-WAN in the middle. And at the top end, you have the infrastructure where your applications reside, be that in a hyperscaler in your own data centre or a private cloud. Those are the three environments of SDN, and you have to ask yourself if the vendor you’re dealing with gives you a strategy across all three areas.”

Security is also an important factor. “If you deploy SD-WAN over a private underlay – such as metro ethernet or MPLS – then you are typically less concerned about security, as even though you connect all your branches, you apply security at a central rewall.” However, if you deploy over any form of public internet (for example broadband) – an increasingly common scenario during lockdown – then every branch becomes exposed. “At this level, though, most leading vendors are able to address these concerns. Many are PCI DSS compliant, which is the credit card industry standard, a very high level of compliance.”

DID YOU KNOW? According to its annual reports, by March this year Telkom’s national fi bre network had reached 165 900km (a 1.3 per cent increase on 2019), with 455 553 home connections (a 5.8 per cent increase on 2019), and 47 179 business connections (up 25.9 per cent from 2019).

Connecting business parks

Virtually no business can function without internet these days, so it goes without saying that high-speed internet connectivity for business parks is essential. “Fibre has almost become a commodity, like water or electricity,” says Gary Webster, head of wholesale department at Metrofi bre. “A couple of years ago, clients would contact landlords a couple of months before they moved in to check if they had fi bre. These days it’s expected.

“We’re in an environment where cloud computing is becoming more and more prevalent, and the COVID-19 crisis has only reinforced that,” continues Webster. “Working from the cloud makes fi bre an absolute necessity. A key advantage of fi bre over previous access technologies is high-speed synchronised connectivity, meaning the upload and download speeds are the same, which is critical for cloud applications.”

Making the right choice

According to Webster, whereas in the past individual companies within business parks would approach their preferred internet service provider (ISP) when they needed to get connected, more business parks and property developers are using Open Access fi bre network operators (FNO) to fi bre up their

HIGH-SPEED BROADBAND?

Compared to the other BRICS countries,

South Africa has the slowest fi xed broadband speeds, with a speedtest ranking of 96. However, with a speedtest ranking of 60, our mobile broadband speeds are second only to China (ranked 6th). business offi ce parks, thus offering the tenant the ability to choose the ISP of their choice. “We implement a turnkey solution, from planning and surveying to managing marketing and sales. This mitigates the risks of having multiple ISPs lifting up paving, potentially cutting existing lines and creating havoc.”

There are ancillary benefi ts to a good fi bre service provider, including Voice over Internet Protocol telephony and enhanced cyber security, but Webster says that when making the choice, a crucial question landlords or property developers should be asking is whether or not the FNO is an open-access provider. “You don’t necessarily want to be stuck with one specifi c provider, and you need to establish if the ISP offers uncapped, unshaped services. It’s important that tenants and developers understand all the terminology to ensure that the service they provide to their tenants is open-access, uncapped and includes the desired ancillary benefi ts.”

“We’re in an environment where cloud computing is becoming more and more prevalent, and the COVID-19 crisis has only

reinforced that.” – Gary Webster

Source: State of the ICT Sector in South Africa – 2020 report by ICASA

GETTING CHEAPER

According to the GSMA Mobile Internet Connectivity 2020 SubSaharan Africa Factsheet, mobile data prices across sub-saharan Africa almost halved between 2015 and 2019. The average price of 1GB of data decreased from 8 per cent of monthly GDP per capita to 4.2 per cent.

Whether you’re working remotely, studying from home, or want to have more indoor entertainment for the whole family, there’s never been a better time to move to Vuma Fibre Core.

What’s all the fuss about fibre you may be asking – especially as there are many other options on the market promising fast, uncapped internet at great prices? Understanding the different connectivity types and which one is best for your home can be overwhelming, so here’s a quick and simple description of each.

ADSL VS LTE VS FIBRE

If you have a landline, chances are that you’ve been using an ADSL line to connect to the internet. ADSL is now being phased out as this technology is outdated and inadequate for modern internet needs.

Downloading, streaming and watching live TV and video requires a stable and reliable internet connection to prevent buffering and lag, which ruin the viewing experience; and ADSL simply doesn’t cut it. So, ADSL is no longer an option for South African internet users and will soon be disappearing for good.

We won’t give you all the technical stuff about LTE and how it works, but basically, it delivers the internet to your home using cellular data networks and signal towers.

As such, much like the mobile internet experience on your phone, the quality of an LTE

internet experience depends on where your home is located on the LTE coverage map. Poor weather conditions also adversely affect how and when you’re able to access the internet. This can be a problem given South Africa’s varying range of weather conditions on a single day.

Fibre gives you the freedom to create virtual meeting spaces and collaborate with colleagues through high-resolution video conferencing, plus the ability to upload, download and share large files in a matter of seconds.

Now, fibre connectivity – the fast, reliable and affordable way to connect your home to new worlds of opportunity, entertainment and information – with zero hassle. Because of its super-speedy download rates, fibre provides the freedom to stream, download, browse the internet and social media, and game – all at the same time. This is because Vuma Fibre Core is unshaped, unthrottled and uncapped. This means that you won’t have to worry about your line speed dropping or dying on you, no matter how much you use it. It’s faster than any other type of internet connection, which means you won’t have to wait a whole day for a movie or series to download – downloading a five-gigabyte movie takes a few minutes! Fibre also provides unlimited internet access so you can surf the internet all day with no fear of disconnection or incurring additional data costs.

For entrepreneurs and professionals working from home, fibre gives you the freedom to create virtual meeting spaces and collaborate with colleagues through high-resolution video conferencing, plus the ability to upload, download and share large files in a matter of seconds.

Fast and reliable fibre allows children and students studying at home to access e-learning tools, and easily download online tutorials and educational videos in high definition.

SIGN UP FOR VUMA FIBRE CORE

Signing up is easy – go to www.vumatel.co.za/ coverage to see where your home is located on the Vuma coverage map. If you fall within the coverage area, hooray! Now browse the fibre internet packages from 55 internet service providers on our network to find the one that fits your unique budget and lifestyle. If your home is not covered, encourage your friends, family and neighbours to show their interest in getting fibre by visiting the Vuma coverage map on the website and completing our ‘Show My Interest’ form. You never know, fast fibre could be coming to your neighbourhood very soon.

For more information: www.vumatel.co.za