ZTE empowers Ethio Telecom with FTTR-B solution to build Africa's first all-optical government office

• ZTE and Ethio Telecom deployed FTTR-B for the GERD office building in Ethiopia, with Africa's first all-optical government office network, delivering high-speed, secure and intelligent connectivity.

• The customised deployment, featuring all-optical coverage, unified service integration and cloud-based smart O&M, sets a benchmark for efficient, scalable digital infrastructure in national-level projects.

ZTE Corporation (0763.HK / 000063.SZ), which positions itself as a global leading provider of integrated ICT solutions, announced today that it has successfully deployed the FTTR-B all-optical network for the office building of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) project.

ZTE empowers Ethio Telecom with FTTR-B solution to build Africa’s first all-optical government office.

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Led by Ethiopia's state-owned operator, Ethio Telecom, ZTE provided a full suite of services, from a comprehensive solution design to equipment supply and implementation support. This project marks a new milestone in the deepening collaboration between the two parties in digital infrastructure development, injecting strong momentum into the informatisation of Ethiopia's key national projects.

The GERD, the largest hydropower project in Africa, has emerged as a powerful symbol of Ethiopia's national renaissance. It ensures nationwide power supply, supports industrial development and drives rural electrification. As the central hub of the project, the GERD office building plays a crucial role in co-ordination, dispatch and daily operations, and thus requires a highly reliable, secure and intelligent network.

Traditional ethernet networks often suffer from limited bandwidth and require three separate networks to support internet access, voice communication and security surveillance. This results in complex architectures, high deployment costs, low reliability and difficult operations and maintenance. To overcome these limitations, ZTE provided Ethio Telecom with a tailor-made FTTR-B solution, transforming the GERD office building into Africa's first all-optical government office benchmark. With high bandwidth, low latency, exceptional stability and complete coverage, the solution has significantly improved the office experience and operational efficiency, helping the GERD enter a new era of smart office management.

Seamless all-optical coverage: The deployment features the FTTR-B gateway ZXEN G100S, paired with 34 optical access points (APs), achieving gigabit fibre coverage across all office areas, meeting rooms and recreational spaces.

Three-in-one unified network: The solution supports a variety of services including data access, voice communication, shared printing and security monitoring, which are integrated into a single network architecture and can reduce the deployment costs by 25%. The FTTR-B gateway includes a built-in voice server, enabling internal and external line inter-dialling, short number calling and IP phone interoperability, thus improving communication efficiency.

Smart and cost-effective O&M: The system is integrated with ZTE's self-developed unified cloud management platform, ZENIC ONE, which enables topology visualisation, automatic fault detection, remote troubleshooting and report generation, thereby improving the maintenance efficiency by 30%. 

Secure access management: The built-in portal authentication server ensures separate network access for employees and visitors, ensuring information security and supporting flexible office applications.

As an enterprise-grade FTTR solution, FTTR-B not only overcomes the wiring and bandwidth limitations of traditional ethernet networks but also provides a reference model for building simple, efficient, secure and intelligent network architectures for governments and enterprises.

Moving forward, ZTE will continue its partnership with Ethio Telecom to broaden the application of FTTR across the African market and boost the digital transformation of more national-level projects, with an aim to jointly build a digital Africa and embrace an intelligent future.