Cape Town's commercial hub - the V&A Waterfront - is set to be fully kitted out with new fibre-optic infrastructure by the end of next year.
This follows a partnership between the commercial site and local ICT services provider Dimension Data as part of a greater project that aims bring high-speed Internet to more than 350 properties across SA.
According to the statement, "Both new and existing tenants will have access to high-speed connectivity, to fixed wire, wireless and GSM network operators of their choice" upon completion of the fibre-optic project, which will be bound to a single trench policy across the property.
"The entire property will be trenched for a fibre-optic backbone, which will be accessible to all their tenants and will enhance all IT and communication services."
The V&A Waterfront's building management system, CCTV and parking currently run on the existing fibre-optic infrastructure and a number of tenants are already making use of the network.
Project scale
David Green, V&A Waterfront CEO, says the company aims to provide "the most advanced high-speed broadband access in SA" with the new fibre-optic infrastructure.
The infrastructure will circle the entire property and is being rolled out in three phases, with an anticipated site-wide roll out by the end of 2014, says Green. "Phase one is complete and fully operational, with the new Allan Gray head office running on this network."
Green notes that tenants and visitors will have access to a WiFi cloud, which will "cover the entire Waterfront precinct".
In terms of the scale of the project, Green explains: "More than 16 000 people work here on a daily basis. There are 450-plus world-class retailers and over 80 eateries. Add to this one six-star, four five-star, three four-star and two three-star hotels and 40 business function rooms at 14 venues. There are 512 homes in the Marina [the Waterfront's residential area] alone."
Jointly owned by Growthpoint Properties and the Government Employees Pension Fund, represented by the Public Investment Corporation, the V&A Waterfront was developed in 1988 by the state-owned transport corporation, Transnet. Official commercial trading commenced in November 1990. The property comprises over 80 000 square metres of commercial space.
Green says the property attracts about 23 million visitors annually, both local and international.
Broadband boon
Green cites Western Cape premier Helen Zille's statement around the importance of Internet connectivity last year: "The World Bank estimates that a 10% increase in high-speed Internet connections in developing countries such as ours results in a 1.3% increase in economic growth."
Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance (DA) shadow minister of communications Marian Shinn has tagged the Western Cape - home to the V&A Waterfront - as a success story when it comes to the government's broadband strategy.
"The DA recognises the importance of broadband connectivity as a catalyst for economic growth and job creation. The success of the DA-led Western Cape government's broadband strategy is an indication of what can be achieved."
She says the Western Cape should be a lesson for the rest of SA, in terms of broadband rollout.
"By the end of 2014, 70% of provincial government buildings, rural libraries and schools in the Western Cape will be connected. In addition, feasibility and design studies for the wireless mesh project in Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain and Saldanha Bay will ensure these areas will become wireless Internet hotspots."
Shinn says the target for every resident of Cape Town to have access to broadband infrastructure in excess of 100Mbps by 2020 is "well under way".
The Company's Garden - a heritage site in central Cape Town - also recently announced it will become a WiFi hotspot.
"The rest of SA deserves the same opportunity," says Shinn.
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