{"id":640407,"date":"2026-04-14T11:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T09:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=640407"},"modified":"2026-04-14T11:05:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T09:05:03","slug":"unused-dark-fibre-network-in-south-africa-can-be-used-to-launch-a-quantum-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/fibre\/640407-unused-dark-fibre-network-in-south-africa-can-be-used-to-launch-a-quantum-network.html","title":{"rendered":"Unused dark fibre network in South Africa can be used to launch a quantum network"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There are thousands of kilometres of mostly untapped, government-owned dark fibre infrastructure connecting all of South Africa’s economic hubs with a combined capacity of 4Tbps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The South African government plans to use this vast network to support a future quantum communication economy projected to become worth R911 million in South Africa by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew Forbes, director of the South African Quantum Technology Initiative (SAQUTI), said the government now wants to allow private companies, such as banks, to test services on this network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The idea is to demonstrate local technology in this fibre to show businesses and the private sector what it can do to fast-track their adoption of quantum technology,” he told MyBroadband<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global research firm Grand View Research<\/a> said that the local quantum communication market generated R166 million in revenue in 2024 despite significant portions of government fibre remaining untouched. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forbes told Forbes Africa<\/a> that it is unusual that South Africa has so much untapped dark fibre buried underground, as most countries use every metre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We can access that dark fibre to implement a quantum network,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through SAQUTI, Forbes is working on a highly secure technological system that uses light to transmit data “thousands or millions of times the speed we have today.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This system protects data using quantum encryption, theorised to be unbreakable, which could be of significant value to banks, financial services, and institutions transmitting sensitive information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Per Forbes, the infrastructure was an idea of the ANC’s first Department of Science and Technology post-1994. It was designed to facilitate a future nationwide communication network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“‘We expect to get everybody talking to each other. So, we’re going to need fibre connections that link everybody together. Let’s lay it for the future,’ which they did,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“So we’ve got all these fibre links that were put under the ground with this prescient view that in the future this would be useful.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TENET and SANReN’s role<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
The International Convention Centre of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A portion of the fibre network is overseen by Tenet, a non-profit company that operates the South African National Research Network (Sanren) using the infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This research network was specifically designed to benefit universities in South Africa and research organisations like the CSIR, with Tenet contracted by the Department of Science and Technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Tenet<\/a>, the initial backbone of the network was commissioned in 2009 and comprised a 10Gbps ring connecting Pretoria, Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, and Cape Town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gqeberha, East London and Durban were also part of the initial backbone. Tenet said that the network has since been significantly extended through a number of government initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fibre infrastructure interconnecting Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban was fully commissioned in 2010, and connected around 90 campuses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dedicated access circuits include “high-capacity long-haul circuits” to the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) and other astronomical research sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) in Sutherland and the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) ‘s magnetic observatory in Hermanus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The developing Square Kilometre Array (SKA) site in Carnarvon is also connected. This network received a wide-ranging upgrade in 2019 and by 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 2023, Tenet oversaw more than 500 separate fibre optic circuits and over 600 discrete routers on behalf of Sanren. The total capacity<\/a> of this managed infrastructure is 4Tbps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forbes believes that quantum communications is “an extremely valuable resource.” It potentially promises a new economy for our planet based on quantum technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2014, the University of the Witwatersrand professor was a co-recipient of a R2.5-million research grant from the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I envisage South Africa, which has no Silicon Valley of its own, becoming a leader in quantum software, much like apps on cellphones, but harnessing quantum technology,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I see us creating a quantum-literate workforce that will realise our country’s immense human potential and create human and economic opportunities that we cannot yet imagine.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa has laid thousands of kilometres of dark fibre across the country, which the government is carefully opening up to the private sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341213,"featured_media":640426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28470],"tags":[40830,3446,3076,104479,104480,5360,104478,1239,104477,1243,307,30514],"class_list":["post-640407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fibre","tag-andrew-forbes","tag-csir","tag-department-of-science-and-technology","tag-grand-view-research","tag-saao","tag-sansa","tag-saquti","tag-ska","tag-south-african-quantum-technology-initiative","tag-square-kilometre-array","tag-tenet","tag-university-of-the-witwatersrand"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640407"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341213"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640407"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":640597,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640407\/revisions\/640597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}