South African fibre networks have a new enemy

Municipal contractors were among the leading causes of damage to fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) infrastructure in South Africa in the first few months of 2025.

That is according to feedback from Vumatel, MetroFibre, Frogfoot, and Octotel.

This is a wry reversal, as some FNOs were criticised during South Africa’s fibre landgrab period for damaging municipal infrastructure.

This included breaking water pipes and electricity cables while trenching to lay ducts and other supporting infrastructure for fibre networks.

As fibre networks have expanded to more than half of the country’s households, rollouts have slowed, and the focus has largely shifted to maintaining existing infrastructure and winning over customers.

The combination of a growing fibre footprint in cities and large towns and crumbling municipal infrastructure has increased the likelihood of run-ins between civil works and fibre equipment.

MetroFibre optical assurance manager Johan Booysen put municipal services pulling up or breaking the company’s fibre while repairing their own works at the top of its list of operational challenges.

Frogfoot’s head of maintenance and facilities Manie Havenga said that municipal council and other operators’ civil works were the biggest cause of fibre breaks on its network.

Octotel chief operating officer Scott Cunningham gave a similar account of the impact of municipal contractors.

“The earliest and most challenging incidents occurred shortly after the builders’ holiday, as active work resumed on sites in January,” Cunningham said.

He explained the FNO encountered multiple cases where third-party contractors appointed to electricity, roads, and water infrastructure projects were found operating above or near Octotel’s network.

They often did so without conducting the mandatory prior kick-off meetings or adhering to established service identification protocols.

“These procedural lapses significantly increased the risk to both our network integrity and operational safety,” he said.

Vumatel also said that repairs to water and sewerage infrastructure by third-party contractors had impacted its infrastructure and led to service failures. However, these incidents have recently abated.

Theft and vandalism remain a problem

Theft and vandalism have also continued to impact Vumatel, MetroFibre, and Frogfoot’s networks.

MetroFibre’s Booysen said that thefts of manhole covers, domes, or even entire manholes were prevalent.

Booysen added that criminals mistaking fibre infrastructure for copper continued to be a challenge.

In addition, some thieves have continued to deliberately target fibre to steal cable strength members, which they crush and smoke.

The strength member adds rigidity to prevent the cable from buckling and is typically made of fibreglass.

Another continuing problem was communities harassing or disrupting maintenance works.

Vumatel has seen a slight increase in vandalism cases which it believes could be of a similar nature.

“This doesn’t often seem to be linked to theft. It may be motivated by civil disruption or other intentions,” the company said.

Aside from criminals and troublemakers, animals and veld fires have also been major culprits in incidents on MetroFibre’s network. “Most commonly, termites and rodents cause the damage,” Booysen said.

In one of MetroFibre’s most unusual fibre breaks of the past few months, the dome of an aerial fibre installation was damaged after it was shot at with a pellet gun for target practice.

Octotel was the only FNO that said it had recorded a significant decline in damage to infrastructure due to a reduction in vandalism.

“We believe this improvement can be attributed, in part, to the educational efforts we’ve undertaken within the communities we service,” said Cunningham.

“While vandalism unfortunately still occurs, it is now typically limited to isolated cases, affecting only a single or a small number of connections.”