There has been a shift from building and developing backbone infrastructure to connecting the last mile point and connecting these to the fibre-optic grid.
The is according to Richard Came, president of the FTTH Council Africa, who opened the third annual FTTH Council Africa Conference this morning at Turbine Hall in central Johannesburg.
He described the fibre-optic industry as "exciting and challenging" and noted 2014 is a significant year for the industry. While broadband penetration has been slow to date, there are positive signs and more awareness of the benefit of fibre-optic technology, he said.
In his opening keynote address, technology guru Simon Dingle underlined the power of disruptive technology, which encapsulates fibre-optics, and the key role this plays in service delivery. He said technology is at the heart of people acquiring information, processing this data and making informed decisions.
Tying up with the theme of the conference, "Power to the Future", Dingle took delegates on a verbal and visual journey of how connective technology has evolved and how this infrastructure has influenced consumer interfaces and services.
Dingle described the human eye as one of the primary resources of people's ability to acquire and collate information. And this information is growing exponentially.
"We are doubling the amount of recorded information on a minute-by-minute basis," he said. "Like electricity 100 years ago, this connective technology is really still in its infancy... we are only now beginning to appreciate the applications this connectivity allows," he said.
The two-day conference continues with a panel discussion on "Investing in Africa", chaired by Natasha Hasslam, account manager, Industrial Development Corporation; with panellists Niel Schoeman, CEO of Vumatel; Arif Hussain, CEO of FibreCo; and Gary Williams, head of pre-sales engineering, Metrofibre Networx.
The morning programme also features Wolfgang Fischer, chief architect for next-generation access solutions, Cisco EMEA, who will talk about fixed/mobile convergence as an old idea that is getting new significance, and Reshaad Sha, chief strategy officer, Dark Fibre Africa, who will tackle the "state of the fibre nation".
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