Vuma fibre connects South Africa to the world of advancement
The number of unique internet users in South Africa increased from 2.4 million in 2000 to 45.3 million in 2024. This increase in fibre internet usage is also being driven by technological advancements such as big data and artificial intelligence (AI). These developments enable the connectivity of devices, vehicles, and infrastructure in exceptional ways.
The evolution of a global Internet workplace and marketplace has had an impact on every aspect of human activity. This lends support to the notion that internet access should be a human right and an essential one. Many human rights, including the freedom of expression jobs, and education, cannot be fully achieved without internet connectivity. Citizens can now enjoy full access to these rights provided through Vumatel fibre deals.
Increased connectivity ensures that people are informed, literate, and active when they have access to digital information.
Africa faces connectivity challenges due to dispersed populations across vast territories. According to the World Bank, only 36% of the continent’s population had broadband access in 2022. In South Africa, where there are 17.8 million households, 3.8 million of those households do not have any form of Internet connectivity. A comprehensive policy approach, involving both government and the private sector, is needed to bridge the digital divide and encourage investment in expanding Internet access through increased coverage and infrastructure building.
With a growing global energy crisis and local challenges in providing power and water infrastructure, we need more innovative ways to bring services to homes, schools, hospitals, and businesses, especially in the most remote regions of the country. Moving people into already congested cities, where there is already extensive fibre coverage, is not a solution. Although it would mean that many people will have access to the internet, it will overburden already limited resources, increase congestion, and create high levels of waste production and environmental pollution.
In the same way that local renewable microgrids can deliver essential energy to populations in African communities with abundant sunlight, local fibre deployments, that are easier to install in underserved areas can quickly connect more people with the outside world and improve their potential to realise a better standard of living. That’s why at Vuma, we are committed to providing South Africans with fibre to home infrastructure, enabling users to engage in online education, remote work opportunities, telemedicine services, and access to vital government information.
Internet access can no longer be seen as a luxury. In a world where every device is connected to the surrounding environment through smart applications, the efficient and low-cost deployment of fibre internet has the power to enable underserved communities and bring dignity to those who need it the most.