Why DFA and Ciena’s Fibre Breakthrough Matters to Telcos
South African enterprise connectivity provider DFA and Ciena, a global high-speed networking operator, have achieved a landmark development in fibre transmission by successfully delivering 1.6 terabits per second over a single wavelength.
The achievement sets a new performance benchmark for the market and reflects the ability of next-generation infrastructure to meet the rising needs of data-driven economies.
Supporting the trial was Willcom, a system integrator and Ciena-authorised partner in South Africa.
The live trial was carried out on a 40-kilometre stretch of DFA’s upgraded high-capacity core network between Isando and Midrand in Gauteng. The route mirrors a previous demonstration that reached 400 gigabits per second.
The new trial increases capacity by more than four times, demonstrating that South Africa’s fibre infrastructure is well-equipped to handle exponential growth in bandwidth demand.
“This greatly enhances the capability of DFA’s existing network and gives us the confidence that we can meet the growing digital demands of our customers,” said Andreas Uys, Chief Technology Officer at MAZIV, DFA’s parent company. “We can seamlessly onboard next-generation connectivity services in selected regions before scaling them nationwide.”
For the telecommunications sector, the demonstration serves as reassurance that core networks can anticipate the pressures of emerging services, such as high-definition content streaming, hybrid cloud applications and 5G enterprise solutions.
The breakthrough follows the first phase of DFA’s US$45m national upgrade programme.
That phase included the rollout of Dry Underground Distribution Cabinets in high-density locations to improve service delivery speeds across South African cities.
“We were able to deploy this groundbreaking technology because of the high quality of our newly upgraded fibre infrastructure and the robust design of our core network to handle the additional traffic.”
Ciena’s WaveRouter and WaveLogic 6 Extreme solutions enabled the trial.WaveRouter integrates routing and optical layers into a single system, bringing flexibility, scalability and sustainability while handling multiple performance tiers ranging from 400 Gbps to 1.6 Tbps.
The integration allows DFA to deliver services at scale today while building room to expand in line with growing market requirements.
Willcom’s role in the project highlighted the importance of authorised technology partners in supporting complex deployments. For telcos, the collaboration confirmed how integrators and vendors can work together to accelerate innovation in fibre network capacity and performance.
Virginie Hollebecque, Vice President for the EMEA region at Ciena, commented: “As the leading dark fibre provider in South Africa, DFA is taking bold steps to support the growing connectivity needs of its customers.
With Ciena’s optical and routing technologies, DFA is in a better position to deliver high-scale 400 Gbps aggregation today while preparing its network to scale up to 1.6 Tbps and beyond.”
In addition to enhanced fibre capacity, DFA is adopting Ciena’s Navigator Network Control Suite. The software consolidates network management through a single point of control, enabling automation of multi-layer network operations and efficient distribution of capacity across the wide area network.
For network operators in the telecommunications sector, the level of intelligent automation offers greater precision in aligning capacity with fluctuating customer demands.
For the telecommunications industry, the implications are significant. Higher bandwidth capacity supports the rollout of converged services and the ability to address future requirements such as AI workloads, cloud-native applications, and immersive digital services.
