Not even stage 8 load-shedding can take down South Africa’s fibre networks  

Fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) providers in South Africa have upgraded their networks’ backup power to withstand stage 8 load-shedding or worse. FTTH is a reliable form of broadband connectivity that is often more likely to remain online during power outages compared to mobile networks.  

To keep a home fibre connection active during load-shedding, a small uninterrupted power supply (UPS) is sufficient, with a capacity of around 30Wh for several hours of uptime. Several internet service providers also offer mini UPSs with their packages.  

Some of the major fibre network operators have stated their resilience against load-shedding, with three of them capable of handling continuous stage 8 load-shedding or even higher in certain cases.  

Other operators have made investments in backup power infrastructure to ensure network uptime during load-shedding. However, the quality of power supply can still pose challenges for fibre network operators and impact the reliability of their services. 

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