Closing the Gap: Fibre for Developing Countries
The digital divide remains one of the most pressing challenges of our time. According to the latest data from the International Telecommunication Union, approximately 2.6 billion people globally remain offline in 2024, with the vast majority living in developing countries. In high-income nations, 93% of the population is online, but in low-income countries, only 27% have internet access. This stark disparity cuts off vulnerable populations from vital online resources for education, employment, healthcare, and economic opportunities.
Enter open-access fibre networks—a groundbreaking solution that is transforming connectivity across developing nations. This innovative model allows multiple internet service providers (ISPs) to share a single physical infrastructure, dramatically reducing costs and accelerating deployment. By separating network ownership from service provision, open-access networks are proving to be a powerful tool for closing the digital divide and unleashing economic growth in regions that need it most.
What is an Open-Access Fibre Network?
At its core, an open-access fibre network is elegantly simple: one fibre network infrastructure that any number of different service providers can use to sell internet services to customers. Instead of each ISP building its own expensive network, multiple providers share the same physical cables and equipment.
Think of it like a public motorway system where different delivery companies can all drive their trucks, rather than each company having to build its own private road. The infrastructure owner builds and maintains the physical network—the “motorway”—while various ISPs use this network to deliver their services, competing on quality, pricing, and customer experience rather than duplicating costly infrastructure.
This stands in stark contrast to traditional models where one company owns the infrastructure and acts as the sole service provider, creating monopolies that often result in higher prices and limited consumer choice. The key difference lies in the separation of roles: infrastructure providers build and maintain the physical network, network operators manage the active equipment that “lights up” the fibre, and service providers deliver internet services to end-users.
The benefits this brings are substantial. Increased competition among ISPs leads to lower prices for consumers, better service quality, and more innovation. Meanwhile, the infrastructure investment is maximised—rather than multiple companies laying redundant cables in the same area, a single network serves the entire community efficiently.
The Power of Connectivity: Why Open-Access Fibre is a Game-Changer
Economic Growth
The economic impact of broadband connectivity in developing countries cannot be overstated. Research shows that a 10 percentage point increase in fixed broadband penetration would increase GDP growth by 1.38% in developing economies. For mobile broadband in Africa specifically, a 10% increase in penetration yields a 2.5% increase in GDP per capita.
Digital connectivity fundamentally transforms economies by linking people to global markets, remote employment opportunities, and online education platforms. Small businesses can reach international customers, farmers can access real-time market prices, and students can tap into world-class educational resources—all made possible through reliable high-speed internet connections.
Reduced Costs & Faster Rollout
One of the most compelling advantages of open-access fibre networks is economics. Building fibre infrastructure requires massive upfront investment—trenching roads, laying cables, installing equipment—costs that can be prohibitive for a single company, especially in lower-density areas of developing countries.
Sharing the high cost of building fibre networks among multiple providers makes deployment financially viable. Infrastructure sharing can reduce capital expenditure by up to 45% and operational expenditure by up to 33%, according to industry analysis. These savings translate directly into accelerated rollout, bringing high-speed internet to more people, faster.
In West Africa, innovative deployment methods further reduce costs. Overland fibre poles—where cables are strung on poles rather than buried underground—are significantly cheaper and less disruptive than trenching. This approach proved crucial for projects like Orange’s Djoliba network, which connects eight West African nations (Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal) using over 10,000 kilometres of terrestrial fibre optic cables combined with submarine cables. By avoiding expensive trenching in challenging terrain, these overland networks reach previously unconnected areas more quickly and affordably.
Sparking Competition & Innovation
Perhaps the most transformative aspect of open-access networks is how they democratize market entry. Traditional vertically integrated models create high barriers—new ISPs would need to invest millions in infrastructure before serving a single customer. Open-access networks eliminate this barrier, allowing new and smaller ISPs to compete on service and innovation rather than infrastructure ownership.
This lower barrier to entry leads to more choice and better services for consumers. ISPs compete on customer service, pricing packages, value-added services, and technical support. This competition drives both innovation and affordability, directly tackling a major obstacle to closing the digital divide. When consumers have choices, providers must continuously improve to retain customers—a dynamic absent in monopolistic markets.
Success Stories from Around the World
South Africa
South Africa’s fibre market has experienced explosive growth, providing a compelling blueprint for other developing nations. Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) penetration now exceeds 20% in urban areas, with annual subscription growth rates surpassing 30% in recent years. Total fibre subscriptions surged from 1.49 million in 2023 to 2.47 million in 2024—a remarkable 66% increase.
This growth is underpinned by the government’s SA Connect initiative, which aims to provide 80% of South African households with broadband connectivity. Phase 2 of SA Connect targets connecting over 32,000 community Wi-Fi hotspots and more than 5.5 million households by 2026, alongside connectivity for 18,520 schools and 5,731 healthcare facilities.
Key players operating on open-access fibre models have driven this transformation. Vumatel, South Africa’s fibre broadband leader, has passed over 2 million homes and reached almost 1 million active subscribers by early 2025. Openserve, Telkom’s wholesale fibre division, operates the country’s most extensive fixed broadband network with over 160,000 kilometres of national fibre infrastructure and more than 414,000 connected customers. Both companies provide open-access infrastructure that allows multiple ISPs to compete for customers, fostering the competitive market that has fuelled South Africa’s rapid fibre adoption.
West Africa
West Africa showcases how open-access principles enable previously unconnected regions to “leapfrog” older technologies and access high-speed internet directly. The concept of technological leapfrogging—skipping intermediate development stages to adopt advanced technologies—is particularly powerful in regions lacking legacy infrastructure.
The crown jewel of West African connectivity is Orange’s Djoliba network, the first pan-African backbone covering eight countries. This unified superfast broadband network provides seamless connectivity with speeds up to 100 Gbps and 99.99% availability through its highly redundant mesh architecture. The network spans more than 10,000 kilometres of terrestrial fibre coupled with 10,000 kilometres of submarine cables, connecting 16 points of presence across the region and linking to 300 points of presence in Europe, America, and Asia.
Before Djoliba, telecommunications networks in West Africa were built within each country’s borders without cross-border infrastructure. Providing service between two capitals required integrating offers from multiple providers and interconnecting different networks at borders—a complex, inefficient process. Djoliba’s unified approach simplifies interconnection, improves service quality, and opens West Africa to global connectivity.
Global Blueprint
Developing countries can look to successful open-access fibre models in developed nations for guidance. In France, the government launched its ambitious France Très Haut Débit (France Superfast Broadband) plan in 2013, targeting coverage of the entire country with superfast broadband by 2022, with 80% delivered via fibre-optic technology. By 2022, France achieved 99% premises coverage, with over €20 billion invested in what became the country’s largest infrastructure project outside Greater Paris. The French model emphasises public-private partnerships and regulatory frameworks that encourage infrastructure competition, particularly in rural areas where pseudo-monopolies are granted to ensure deployment viability.
In the UK, Openreach—BT’s wholesale network division—operates one of the world’s most established open-access fibre networks, connecting users to around 300 communication providers offering full-fibre services across urban centres, towns, villages, and rural communities. Openreach’s model, mandated by government policy to separate infrastructure from retail services, has proven that open access can work at scale while maintaining commercial viability.
Overcoming the Hurdles
Financial & Regulatory Challenges
Despite its advantages, deploying open-access fibre networks in developing countries faces significant challenges, starting with high initial investment costs. Building fibre infrastructure requires substantial capital for cables, equipment, trenching or pole installation, and ongoing maintenance—costs that can exceed what private companies are willing to invest in lower-income markets.
The solution lies in public-private partnerships (PPPs) and joint ventures. PPPs systematically leverage all sources of finance, expertise, and solutions to support sustainable growth. Successful examples include Kenya’s TEAMS project, which deployed a 1.28 Tbit/s submarine optical fibre cable jointly funded by the Kenyan government and private-sector financing, and Botswana’s “Fibre to Home” initiative, where eleven private companies work with the government to build and maintain fibre networks.
Beyond financing, strong government policies and clear regulatory frameworks are essential to encourage investment and manage deployment. Regulators must balance encouraging competition with ensuring infrastructure investments can be amortised. This includes cost-based pricing for wholesale access, transparent interconnection rules, and frameworks that enable infrastructure sharing without creating unfair competitive advantages.
Infrastructure & Data Gaps
A less visible but critical challenge is not knowing where existing infrastructure is located. With over 3,000 internet service providers operating globally and most digital infrastructure privately owned, limited publicly available information on fibre networks hinders decision-making about new investments.
The World Bank, in collaboration with the International Telecommunications Union and Mozilla, is addressing this through the Open Fibre Data Standard—a common framework for publishing data about terrestrial fibre optic infrastructure. Creating digital maps of fibre networks allows governments, regulators, and investors to identify gaps, avoid duplication, and make informed decisions about where to deploy new infrastructure. This mapping initiative is vital for efficient resource allocation and preventing wasteful overbuilding in areas already served while highlighting underserved regions that need connectivity.
The Engine Room: Billing and Policy Control
For open-access networks to be sustainable, they must generate revenue—but managing multiple ISPs on a single network requires sophisticated technology. Policy control and billing systems form the engine room that makes open-access models work operationally.
These systems must allow operators to:
- Monitor usage and manage traffic effectively across all ISPs using the network
- Offer personalised packages, creating opportunities for up-selling and cross-selling different speed tiers and service bundles
- Provide services to multiple ISPs on the same network while keeping each provider’s customers and billing separate
- Track resource utilisation to ensure fair allocation and optimal network performance
African operators have successfully implemented such systems. Camtel in Cameroon deployed FTS’s convergent billing, charging, customer care, and policy control platforms to manage its complex mix of voice, data, VSAT, and internet services across multiple customer segments. The system’s flexibility enables rapid implementation of new pricing plans and provides accurate credit control—essential for sustainable operations.
Similarly, TelOne in Zimbabwe implemented FTS’s comprehensive end-to-end billing solution, including convergent billing and charging, interconnect billing, invoicing, order management, customer management, network management, and mediation. As Zimbabwe’s sole fixed telecommunication services provider, TelOne uses these systems to operate both as an Internet Access Provider—providing transmission backhaul for mobile and data operators—and as an Internet Service Provider retailing and wholesaling internet access.
These sophisticated systems transform open-access networks from theoretical concepts into practical, revenue-generating operations that can sustain long-term growth and continuous infrastructure expansion.
WHO WE ARE
Lightstruck Namibia
Fibre optic internet is a remarkable advancement in communication technology. It is here to change the way we do business, the way we go about our daily lives, and even the way in which we educate the youth. As fibre providers, Lightstruck aims to develop and install this next generation digital utility in communities across Namibia, bringing the latest entertainment and technology advancements into your home.
What distinguishes fibre from traditional internet connections is its reliability and speed. Unlike copper internet connections, fibre internet does not lose signal or weaken over a long distance. It can transfer considerable amounts of data over long distances, thereby providing home and business owners with a secure internet connection that works at the speed of light.
WHY CHOOSE US
We plan on deploying fibre internet in all interested communities
It is our team’s vision to develop, own and operate open, high-end, last mile fibre by deploying an infrastructure investment methodology that will deliver long term fibre optic networks for the economic and social benefit of the communities in which fibre is deployed.
For the next part of the process, which is enabling home and business owners to utilise the fast-speed fibre that has been installed in their area, we have partnered with various leading ISPs to deliver a product in which we can trust.
They have been carefully chosen, offering our customers the combination of both excellent service, with a product offering that would suit most business and home owners’ modern internet requirements.
FAQ
Want to know more about fibre availability and general things?
Optical fibre is a hair-thin strand of glass, specifically designed to trap and transmit light pulses. The fibre uses light instead of electricity to carry a signal. It can carry an enormous amount of data over very long distances without buffering or a loss of signal, and it can provide those signals simultaneously for the upload and download of data, without losing speed. Copper networks can carry a fair amount of data, but only for a few hundred meters before the signal begins to fade and buffer.
Today only 10% of all communication takes place via network devices, like your phone connecting to your Bluetooth speaker. Therefore, 90% of all communication is still on a human to human or human to device level. It is said that in a few years’ time, up to 90% of all communication will occur between devices. Fibre, especially open access networks, gears you for this future.
A network owner plans, installs, owns, and operates the physical fibre network in your area. They are solely responsible for the infrastructure. The ISP is in charge of selling the fibre to the public. Your ISP rents your fibre circuit as a utility from companies like Lightstruck and pays a portion of your package price over to the network owner.
FTTH stands for Fibre to the Home. It refers to the completion of this next generation network right onto your property.
A bit is a common description of a unit of digital data or information. Mbps stands for megabits per second and this normally refers to the physical allocation of your data or “pipe” size. Imagine fibre being a 1m thick water pipe with infinite capacity. Mbps is like putting a tap on that enormous water pipe which will give you a steady flow of, for example, 20 litres per second.
Fibre that is properly installed will seldom break and can last for 25 – 30 years. Fibre most often breaks due to human interferences such as theft, accidents, or negligence by other utility maintenance teams. If damaged, your fibre can, in most cases, be repaired on the same day.
Copper internet normally delivers a Digital Subscriber Line or an ADSL service over a standard telephone line that also provides the internet access. Copper is a former generation technology and is not nearly as reliable as fibre. Fibre internet consists of very thin glass strands, as opposed to copper wires, for faster data transfer. There is no comparison between copper and fibre as fibre is superior on all levels.
GB stands for Gigabyte and refers to an allocation of digital information or data. For example, a movie with fair resolution is around 1 GB in size.
Connecting homes directly to fibre optic networks enables enormous improvements in the bandwidth that can be provided to communities, now and for many decades to come. Fibre is called the end-game technology. 5G and similar connections are still some distance from your property and from thereon everyone competes for the same internet access. Fibre is the only real digital utility that will enhance digital services at home and at work, including video, the Internet of Things, gaming, and smart homes.
No, you can order internet and telephone services directly from any of the accredited ISP’s.
With uncapped data you get unlimited data access at a steady speed. With capped data you are allocated a certain amount of data or GB’s (gigabytes) and when it is depleted you need to buy more to gain further access. The current trend in South Africa is uncapped packages, as it does not restrict users.
Fibre availability is not restricted when living in a gated estate. The quickest way to get them involved is to register your interest with us. The more residents that show interest, the easier our discussion with the owners’ association will be. If you provide us with the details of the primary contact person, we can approach them to engage in our project discussions. If we can prove that there is a definite interest in the estate or complex, the decision-making process will be quick and easy, and the likelihood increases that we will be able to install fibre.
