Every fibre rollout starts with one decision: FTTH or FTTB. Get it wrong and you pay for it in delays, rework, and unhappy end users. Get it right and your network scales the way you planned it.
What FTTH means for your build
Fibre to the Home runs a dedicated fibre line into each unit. Every home or business gets its own connection point. This method suits low-density residential estates, standalone houses, and areas where customers expect the fastest available speeds.
The trade-off: FTTH needs more trenching, more ducting, and more home drops per site. Civil works make up most of the cost and the schedule.
What FTTB means for your build
Fibre to the Building brings fibre to a single point in a building, apartment block, or office park. From there, existing internal wiring, or a smaller in-building fibre run, carries the signal to individual units.
FTTB shortens the trenching distance and speeds up deployment in high-density sites. It suits apartment blocks, office parks, and multi-tenant commercial buildings.
How to decide
Three factors settle the decision for most projects:
- Density: low-density housing favours FTTH. High-rise and multi-tenant sites favour FTTB.
- Budget and timeline: FTTB deploys faster and costs less per connection in dense sites. FTTH costs more upfront and future-proofs bandwidth per unit.
- End-user expectations: premium residential estates often require FTTH for guaranteed speed. Commercial tenants in a shared building accept FTTB.
Why the contractor you choose matters as much as the method
FTTH and FTTB both depend on the same fundamentals: accurate site analysis, correctly executed trenching and ducting, clean splicing, and a contractor who manages civil acceptance and reinstatement without leaving damage behind.
Simunandi Green is a CAC and FAC certified fibre build contractor delivering full turnkey fibre solutions across South Africa, from site analysis and trenching through to splicing, cutovers, and home drops. Our teams have worked with operators including Sizwe Africa IT Group and NetX.
Planning an FTTH or FTTB rollout? Get a quote from our fibre build team.