Commercial and personal fiber internet advantages approaching Zimbabwe

Following the completion of a large linking project from TelOne in 2019, Zimbabwe is finally seeing moves into commercial fiber viability. Made possible through a $98 million loan from the China Exim Bank as noted by www.itweb.africa, this project has bridged one of the last technological gaps for Zimbabwe's online presence.

The first step of this project enabled the connection to different countries, ensuring the maximum possible transmission speeds to the global online infrastructure. What comes next is viability on a smaller scale, with the technology slowly replacing or acting as an alternative to older and slower DSL lines. Even if the line isn't tapped into directly with other fiber connections, the lower cost of upkeep is expected to reduce the price of the internet for average users by around 40%.

Fiber as a Tool

As a means of connecting to the internet, fiber can be powerful, even when used indirectly. Generally, service providers offering fiber connections allow speeds in the 30-1000Mbps range. DSL and ADSL connections usually operate in the 5-30Mbps range. This additional speed can have some profoundly positive benefits for end-users, but these advantages are not universal.


"Internet Speed" (CC BY 2.0) by Infosec Images

Users looking to stream video content, such as Hulu or YouTube, will usually not require fiber to obtain perfect performance. The exception to this is ultra-high resolution and frame-rate media, which might exceed common ADSL allowances. Similar ideas could also hold to players of casino games, like those at www.stsbet.co.uk. Whether browsing the website collecting bonuses or playing slots or live casino titles, even ADSL in this case will practically never be slow enough to hinder the experience.

The two primary exceptions for speed concerns come from business use, and when multiple users share the same connection. For businesses, large data backups and downloads can be necessary, in which case fiber could prove indispensable. Multiple users generate another issue, where every simultaneous connection to the same network effectively divides each person's individual bandwidth. A 10Mbps connection shared by a family of five, in this way, is effectively only operating at 2Mbps.

Internet Penetration in Zimbabwe

According to this report from www.internetworldstats.com, 8.4 million Zimbabwean's accessed the internet in December of 2020 alone. This accounts for around 56.5% of the population. In 2010, this penetration sat at just over 10%, indicating a rapid and significant level of growth.

Such growth could indicate a potential market for the arrival of commercial fiber, but it also means benefits for mobiles. As www.techzim.co.zw notes, by 2018 mobile had a penetration rate in Zimbabwe of around 92%, a number which has likely grown. Of these mobile phones, 59% are connected to the internet. Since cell towers can link to fiber connections for faster speeds, mobile forms of engagement are similarly expected to grow.

The new age of fiber in Zimbabwe has enormous advantages for direct business and personal use, but the benefits don't stop there. Having greater fiber connectivity also lowers general internet prices and provides a faster basis to which mobile internet towers can connect. A transformative technology, the potential in the coming years is immense.