MTN’s fibre internet arm, called Supersonic, has plans to roll out fibre that’s beamed through the air and it goes by Unlimited Air Fibre. It’ll update existing infrastructure to make it possible for customers to gain access to fibre speeds without digging trenches for physical lines.
Fibre, but make it invisible
Speaking at the 2021 MyBroadband conference, Supersonic CEO Calvin Collett said the company plans to install Air Fibre in selected South African cities from May 2021. It’ll start installing cutting-edge radios on MTN’s existing mobile towers across the selected cities. These radios will communicate with A4-sized antennas that’ll need to be installed in the homes of customers who opt for the product.
Initially, Supersonic will install the radio’s on towers in cities including Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, and Durban. And because it’ll run on an unlicensed spectrum, the network won’t be as congested as current mobile frequencies. So you should get fairly speedy connections from the wireless option.
Its options will be completely uncapped, so customers will really get that fibre-line treatment at decent prices. According to MyBroadband, the ISP’s entry-level option will start at R400 for 5Mbps and go up to 100Mbps for R1,000 a month.
Of course, because the speed of a connection relies on its link to the server, a wireless product like this will become more congested and result in slower speeds as its customer base grows and more ISPs opt for a part of that spectrum. It is, however, a good option for anyone looking for those lighting-fast speeds without the proper infrastructure.