The KwaZulu-Natal provincial government, South African network operator Openserve and Chinese technology company Huawei have launched a pilot in Empangeni, South Africa, that installs fibre infrastructure in new homes as they are built.
The Fibre Pre-Provisioning proof of concept, launched on 23 October 2026, covers the Phase 1A Empangeni mega housing development in uMhlathuze Municipality, where 405 houses are under construction. The partners say it is among the first projects in South Africa to use a “Pipe and Box” method, which puts the infrastructure for future connectivity in place while the homes and other essential infrastructure are built.
The homes will not have fibre services yet. “While this proof of concept does not itself provide fibre services, it establishes the physical infrastructure that will make future connectivity possible,” said Thamsanqa Ntuli, Premier of KwaZulu-Natal.
Who does what
- The provincial government, through the Office of the Premier, provides leadership and strategic oversight.
- The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Human Settlements contributes expertise in settlement planning and development.
- uMhlathuze Local Municipality leads local coordination, including infrastructure requirements and approvals.
- Huawei provides technical advice, programme support and knowledge transfer.
- Openserve contributes telecommunications infrastructure and network deployment expertise, including planning for future connectivity.
The case for making it standard
Huawei used the launch to argue for a national rule. “It is our firm belief that fibre pre-provisioning must become a standard policy at a national level, integrated into municipality building codes and national housing strategy across South Africa,” said Charles Cheng, Deputy CEO of Huawei South Africa.
Li Yanbang, Huawei’s Solution Manager, who presented the pilot, said: “If we do the fibre pre-provisioning during or before the road construction, it saves cost and also avoids the damage to the road.”
Rendani Musetha, Chief Director for Digital Government at the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies, asked: “Why should we build houses today and only think about connectivity tomorrow?”
Pearl Schrimpton, Enterprise and Public Sector Executive at Openserve, said: “Our commitment to this project is simple: we build it properly, we measure it openly, and we will share what we learned with our partners in government, so that the country can decide on facts rather than assumptions.”
What the partners have not said
The release does not state the pre-provisioning costs per home or the expected savings, so the claim that it makes services quicker and cheaper to switch on is not yet backed by figures. It also gives no date for fibre services in the development, does not say which operator will connect the homes, and reports no results from the pilot.
Openserve was one of the 8 most-rated fibre network operators in a July 2026 perception survey by the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA). Huawei has also been working on in-home fibre elsewhere in Africa: in May 2026, Telecom Egypt launched its first Fibre-to-the-Room service (fibre run to individual rooms) with Huawei.
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