Cape Town Broadband Infrastructure Project promises to cut telecoms prices and bump up average connection speeds from 0.3 Mbps to 1 Gbps

Municipal telecommunications and broadband networks have not lived up to their hype in South Africa, but one local city is set to not only boost their own broadband bandwidth but also provide affordable point-to-point fibre access to ISPs and companies.

Cape Town’s Broadband Infrastructure Project – which aims to serve the city’s telecoms needs and boost economic development – is progressing well and promises to revolutionize bandwidth availability in the city.

Cape Town’s Telecommunications Manager Leon Van Wyk told delegates at the recent ISPA iWeek conference that their 500 km open access optic fibre network is nearing completion and will sport numerous switching centers around the municipality.

The Metro area MPLS and VoIP communications network will initially link 60 Cape Town city buildings with each other and the Internet at 1Gbps – a massive boost from the current bandwidth speed averages of 0.3 Mbps.

According to Van Wyk this network will also go a long way to reduce the city’s telecoms bill of around R110 million per year. While the cost of the first phase of this project is a hefty R125 million, it is likely to quickly pay for itself in both cost savings and increased service levels.

Good news for commercial network operators and ISPs is that ECS and ECNS license holders will get access to this network.

The city will offer a variety of services to telecoms licensees, including:

1) Rent unlit fibre pairs between switching centres
2) Rent fibre from any fibre distribution point to any nearby building (up to 300m, subject to viability)
3) Connect their own fibre to a switching centre
4) Rent unlit fibre on a cross-connect ring to the exchanges of the national networks
5) Rent rack space in switching centres for transmission equipment
6) Buy 100Mbps or 1Gbps circuits between switching centres

The City of Cape Town will however not provide any services to end users. Van Wyk explained that ISPs and other operators are better positioned to provide consumer services, and they will have access to both the Cape Town fibre network and the switching centers to reduce their costs and provide broadband services to consumers.

Cost of fibre access

Van Wyk also revealed the costs associated with access to their fibre network. The costs are as follows.

Unlit fibre

- Unlit fibre between switching centres averages R2.40/pair/metre/month
- Unlit access fibre to buildings will cost up to R70,000 to install (≤300m) and R3.00/pair/metre/month thereafter

Rack space

- Half rack (21U): R4,030/month
- Full rack (43U): R7,820 (1.5kW) or R10,040 (6kW)

Cross-connect rings

- R11,400/pair/month
- R22,800/pair/month with full redundancy

Ethernet ‘circuits’ between switching centres

- 100Mbps: ± R61/Mbps e.g. Cape Town – Bellville R7,659
- 1Gbps: ± R30/Mbps e.g. Cape Town – Bellville R38,295

The future

Van Wyk pointed out that the first phase of the network will lay the foundation for the city’s telecoms plans, but that this is merely the beginning.

“As we connect more City buildings we will lay more fibre throughout Cape Town, including poorly served areas,” said Van Wyk. “We will also build more switching centres which will serve the City’s needs and to stimulate economic development.”

“Cape Town will become one of the most connected cities in Africa,” Van Wyk concluded.

The first phase of the Cape Town Broadband Infrastructure project is due for completion December 2010.

Source: My Broadband (http://mybroadband.co.za/news/telecoms/15287-100-Mbps-Gbps-fibre-pricing-revealed.html)

Absolutely brilliant!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4132/5010719933_0df2a7785c_b.jpg

^^ Thanks. Was interested to see where they were running fibre.

Things I do for you.

Broadband to enhance city efficiency
Being ‘virtually well connected’ is essential for a modern metropole and its citizens, writes Lorelle Bell

CONNECTIVITY – in how
buildings, spaces and transport
networks function as
much as in the intangible
technological sense – is a vital element
in creating an open, accessible
and efficient city.
This is the essence of the City of
Cape Town’s Broadband Infrastructure
Network, which will provide
“dark fibre” – hireable optical fibre
– on an open-access basis. This has
the potential to provide us all with
far more affordable and effective
internet and telephone connectivity.

The City of Cape Town’s Information
Systems and Technology
Department anticipates that by
December, a ring of fibre is set to
light up Cape Town’s voice and digital
connections when the first phase
of the Broadband Infrastructure
Network goes live. Hundreds of kilometres
of fibre cables are being laid
to provide this infrastructure.
The network will link the computer
and telecommunications facilities
of 52 municipal buildings from
the CBD to beyond Milnerton to
Parow and Bellville, through the
Klipfontein corridor and back to the
CBD, providing vastly improved
connectivity for the city and cutting
telecommunication costs tenfold.
From May, the Civic Centre and
the Cape Town Stadium were linked
to provide more efficient connectivity
during the World Cup. Fibre
cables were also laid at IT stations.

By laying its own network, the
council will cease to be dependent
on an external service provider,
enabling direct links between city
facilities and substantially reducing
the costs of linking city facilities to
external networks as well.
By 2014, the whole of the city will
be connected – from Atlantis
through Kraaifontein to Gordon’s
Bay and Simon’s Town – through the
city’s 600 sites, including clinics,
municipal buildings and libraries.
This Broadband Infrastructure
network will deliver extensive
additional capacity, which will be
sold to cellphone and internet service
providers, who will then be able
to provide increased bandwidth to
everyone at more affordable rates.
Service agreements with the providers
will ensure that cost savings
are passed on to consumers.
The project is expected to bring
major economic and social benefits
to the city.

Local politicians have dubbed
Cape Town the future “silicon hub of
Africa”, speculating that the project
will bring foreign investment to the
city. Telecommunications costs have
long been held to be a business and
investment constraint.
The fibre network, with the
installation of fibre-optic cables by
some private telecommunications
companies, will dovetail with the
Seacom undersea fibre-optic cable,
which, stretching along the east
coast of Africa, links South Africa to
Europe and India.
The network will extend the
City’s Smart Cape Access Project,
launched six years ago to widen
internet access. Studies at the time
showed that about 14 percent of
Capetonians had access to computers
and the internet.

In an effort to extend access and
digital packages to the rest of the
population, the municipality placed
five computers in 100 libraries
throughout the city and library
members were given a daily ration
of 45 minutes’ internet time. In a
partnership with libraries, membership
at libraries increased tremendously
as more than 200 000 people
registered to access the internet
through this project.
By 2014, public access to computers
and the internet through municipal
buildings is expected to be provided
through the foyers of some
council building, such as clinics.
Wifi hotspots will also be available.
A number of individuals and
small businesses have gained opportunities
they would not have had
without their access to the Smart
Cape computers.


The city and provincial department
of economic affairs and
tourism are consulting around a
provincial fibre network. It is hoped
this will mean that schools, which
are controlled by the province, will
also ultimately be able to tap into
and benefit from the network.
A third new city project is linked
to this greater connectivity – the
Cape Town Portal aims to connect
Capetonians to all financial data,
improving financial interactions
between citizens and the city. Future
interactions will be possible through
mobile technology, and the city is
even speaking about using MXit.
Improved and cheaper connectivity
should make doing business in
Cape Town more affordable and
encourage investment. It should also
potentially improve service delivery.
But poorer communities also stand
to benefit from more affordable and
accessible telecommunications.
The questions we need to ask (and
answer) relate to the economic, social
and education opportunities this
project has the potential to unlock,
and how we are going to make sure
that the benefits accrue to the broadest
cross-section of citizens.
The challenge to citizens is to consider
what opportunities the improved,
more affordable broadband
access and telephony could deliver,
and how to ensure that benefits
accrue to the broader population.

This is where design and designers
come in.

What economic and
entrepreneurial activities will be
unleashed through the network?

● Lorelle Bell is the World Design
Capital co-ordinator at the Cape
Town Partnership.

I assume this would greatly boost the COP17 event if we win the bid, since various sites in the CBD will be used, connectivity for media will be quite important.

Would be cool if during the event there are Wi-Fi zones and free internet zones for the publics, media, delegates etc.

GREAT NEWS - 2014! Hope Jozi and Durban will do the same. I think Jozi already started their Wireless city plan..

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4113/5029118529_d1efe4009a_b.jpg

Phase 2 of Broadband Project coming soon. Hold thumbs.

Phase 2 of Broadband Project coming soon. Hold thumbs.

Cape Town Looks To Boost Connectivity Infrastructure

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 | Comments: 0

The City of Cape Town is considering proposals to expand the city’s fibre-optic infrastructure, reports the Cape Argus. The need to expand the fibre-optic network is seen as critical with mayoral committee member Belinda Walker saying :” You can't have a city without tarred roads and a water supply, and we have reached a point where you can't have a city without really good fibre-optic connectivity”. Walker said she would push strongly for resources to aid in this regard.

The city is in the middle of an fibre-optic expansion project that will see 50 city buildings connected to a high speed broadband network. The network will carry all telephone calls between the buildings and be linked to the strategic surveillance cameras and integrated rapid transit stations. A mooted second phasd will extend the network to the metro south-east region, up the West Coast as far as Melkbosstrand and Atlantis, and to the south peninsula as well as the northern suburbs. It is envisaged that the network will eventually cover all of Cape Town. The entire cost of the project is expected to come in at around R382 million.

i need a loop to my farm by windmeul

Free broadband for the Western Cape update
Staff Writer
February 28, 2013

Helen Zille has provided an update on the Western Cape government’s plans to provide free broadband for all

Western Cape premier Helen Zille said in her state of the province speech (22 February 2013) that they are on track to begin delivering broadband services to under-serviced areas by the end of 2014.

According to Zille, the feasibility and design study for the wireless mesh project in Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain and Saldanha Bay will also be finalised by the end March 2013.

“Once we have implemented this project, by the end of 2014, these areas will become wireless internet hotspots,” Zille said.

She said that people living and working there will have access to the Internet without having to be connected to a modem or a digital subscriber line.

Zille’s update on the Western Cape broadband roll-out comes just over a year since she first announced their plans to provide broadband connectivity to every citizen in the province.

Another milestone for the project is that 70% of provincial government buildings, rural libraries and schools will be connected by the end of 2014.

“Thousands of people will experience for the first time, what it means to live in a connected, open, opportunity society,” Zille said.

Source: MyBroadband (http://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadband/71450-free-broadband-for-the-western-cape-update.html)

R53 million for Western Cape broadband
Staff Writer
March 26, 2013

The Western Cape government has allocated a budgeted amount of R52.746 million for its Broadband Initiative in 2013.

This far outweighs a budget of R15.9 million up to 2016 for Gauteng’s broadband initiative as announced by the province’s MEC for Finance, Mandla Nkomfe earlier in March.

Alan Winde, the minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism briefly detailed the figure at the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism’s budget for 2013/14 on Friday (22 March).

“Speaker, infrastructure plays an important role in promoting growth. A lack of adequate infrastructure can hinder potential growth, weaken international competitiveness and adversely affect poverty reduction rates.

“That is why in the year ahead, we will enhance strategic infrastructure in our province with an allocation of R78.826 million. This amount includes earmarked allocations of R52.746 million for the Broadband Initiative,” Winde said.

In February Western Cape Premier Helen Zille announced plans to connect every citizen in the Cape Town metropolitan area to high-speed broadband by 2020.

Winde told MyBroadband that the government had already connected eight government buildings to its network at speeds of up to 1Gbps.

In the State of Gauteng Province Address on February 25, Gauteng premier Nomvula Mokonyane largely ignored the province’s status in reaching its goal of achieving 95% broadband coverage.

Gauteng province is home to 12.3 million people, which represents the largest population in South Africa, accounting for 24% of the national population. The Western Cape meanwhile has a population just north of 5.8 million, and ranks fourth in the country.

Gauteng also accounts for approximately 35% of the national economy, still higher than both the second and third placed contributors, KwaZulu-Natal (15.7%) and Western Cape (14.2%), combined.

In February, in delivering the State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Jacob Zuma also only glanced over the telecommunications services and broadband sector.

“Last year, the private and public sector laid about 7,000 new fibre optic cables. The plan is to achieve 100% broadband internet penetration by 2020,” he said.

Source: MyBroadband (http://mybroadband.co.za/news/broadband/74191-r53-million-for-western-cape-broadband.html)

they shoudve considered making cape town cbd an internet free zone in the interim, which could of potentially brought allot more business and investment to the cbd.