Huawei sets out fibre-first roadmap for an Intelligent Africa

Insights from AfricaCom 2025 highlight broadband, AI and cloud as core infrastructure for an Intelligent Africa.

Broadband is moving into the same category as roads, water and electricity in Africa’s growth plans, as governments and operators look for ways to unlock faster, more inclusive economic growth on the continent.

Speaking in Cape Town after the 28^th AfricaCom 2025 conference, Huawei said the conversations across the week’s industry forums, keynote speeches, exhibition halls and showcase visits, which drew more than 300 participants from across the continent over the past week point to a clear direction that broadband must be treated as infrastructure for growth by building fibre deep into homes and businesses and layering AI and cloud on top to keep networks efficient, secure and affordable.

Under the theme "Accelerating the Intelligent World", Huawei addressed topics such as “Deepening Connectivity” and “Elevating Digital Intelligence". The discussions focused on AI industry innovation, 5G commercial success, 4G traffic stimulation, all-optical connectivity, and digital transformation in operations and maintenance. Attendees explored strategies and practices to accelerate Africa's digitalisation, build inclusive ICT infrastructure, seize emerging opportunities, and achieve shared growth.

“Artificial intelligence is becoming the defining the defining trend of our time, said Hover Gao, President of Huawei sub-Saharan Africa. “If we combine AI with strong digital infrastructure, Africa can leapfrog into an intelligent economy and create new growth engines.”

Last year, the African Union released its Continental Artificial Intelligence Strategy, and at least 16 countries across the region have since launched their own national AI strategies. By 2030, AI is expected to contribute up to 6% of Africa’s GDP, while the growth rate of computing power demand on the continent may reach twice the global average.

“To turn this vision from strategy to implementation, many countries in the region still face several key challenges,” said Gao. At the Africa Ministerial Forum, themed Artificial Intelligence Powering Africa’s Leap into Digital and Intelligent Era, Huawei and several delegates, discussed how Africa can capitalise on AI opportunities through forward-looking strategies, including building computing power infrastructure, cultivating AI talent, and fostering an innovation ecosystem.

In response to these challenges, Huawei is committed to working hand in hand with governments across the continent to explore practical solutions and jointly address these challenges.

There is growing recognition across the region that spectrum decisions, wayleave processes, security frameworks and cross-border data rules will determine how quickly intelligent networks appear on the ground. Each country is starting from a different point, yet a common direction is emerging with broadband as core infrastructure and digital inclusion as a driver of growth.

At the Mobile Broadband Solutions Africa Forum 2025 (MBBS Africa 2025), Huawei extended this vision into 5G for Africa, unveiling five innovative solutions for the African market focused on new services, new experiences, new business models, new connectivity and new energy efficiency.

Industry players are now working to turn that direction into practical blueprints. Huawei is focusing on intelligent networks that use AI to manage complexity, drive down operating costs and improve the user experience as more people and businesses come online. Across AfricaCom and related forums, discussions centred on accelerating Africa’s digital transformation through broadband infrastructure and artificial intelligence.

During the World Broadband Association Broadband Development Congress, Cape Town 2025 (WBBA BDC Cape Town 2025), Huawei launched the Southern Africa FTTx Planning & Design Service Center, with more than 100 experts dedicated to advancing FTTx development in the region, and engaged partners through WBBA BDC to deepen collaboration on fibre deployment and best practice.

Huawei’s showcase in Cape Town set out how operators can use AI to run their networks more smoothly. The tools can spot problems on busy routes before customers feel them, automatically shift capacity to where demand is highest during the day, and reduce power use on quieter parts of the network without affecting service.

The Operations Transformation Forum Africa 2025 (OTF Africa 2025) gave operators and partners space to explore how these AI capabilities and new operating models can help deliver the Intelligent Africa vision at scale, from planning and rollout to day-to-day operations.

In addition, Huawei hosted the Huawei Cloud Roundtable and AIDC Roundtable, focusing on leveraging cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence and innovative data centre architectures to improve operational efficiency, optimise cost structures and explore new avenues for digital business growth and AI transformation.

Fibre-to-the-room is emerging as a key building block in this roadmap. Through a home demonstration site in Cape Town, Huawei illustrated how a single fibre spine, extended into each room, can support work, learning and entertainment simultaneously.

Visitors experienced uninterrupted Wi-Fi while moving through the house, tested cloud gaming and high-definition streaming, and saw what a home office looks like when FTTR provides dedicated, reliable capacity even when the whole household is online.

The same infrastructure supports small-business scenarios. A township salon, guesthouse or corner shop can run on integrated connectivity bundles that combine point-of-sale systems, security cameras, access control and cloud-based tools, all riding on the FTTR backbone.

Huawei's exhibition area showcased its latest commercial practices and a series of product solutions in wireless, network, service, software, and IT fields, centered on three main themes: "Business Success, Elevating Digital Intelligence, and Deepening Connectivity”.

AfricaCom is one of Africa’s largest communications industry exhibitions and attracted over 15,000 participants this year. DM