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Thumbs-up for Parkhurst FTTH

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 04 Jun 2014
Vumatel's FTTH proposal includes a once-off installation fee of R2 500 per household.
Vumatel's FTTH proposal includes a once-off installation fee of R2 500 per household.

Parkhurst residents should be able to access fibre-to-the-home connectivity within six to 12 months, according to the residents' organisation driving the initiative.

The Parkhurst Residents and Business Owners Association (PRABOA) awarded the project to Vumatel, following a call for proposals last month, which invited telecoms service providers to present ideas for implementation.

According to a PRABOA statement, Vumatel was given the nod thanks to its "excellent technical proposal, a solid business plan that showed the project was financially viable and fully funded, a comprehensive community communications plan, and commercial terms that were very favourable to the residents".

The Vumatel proposal included a once-off installation fee of R2 500 per household and line speeds of between 4Mbps and 1 000Mbps.

Its 4Mbps line speed will be offered free of charge, with the next line-speed of 50Mbps charged at R499 per month.

Its 1Gbps option will be offered at R1 299 per month and all offerings have contract terms of 24 months. PRABOA says residents can purchase bandwidth from a number of competing providers, at an estimated cost of between R2 and R10 per GB, depending on usage.

Vumatel is a new entrant to the FTTH market, according to PRABOA, and the company is led by Niel Schoeman - founder of Conduct Telecommunications SA, which built over 40 last-mile fibre solutions for business precincts in SA and was recently sold to Dark Fibre Africa.

PRABOA notes it chose Vumatel after appointing an adjudication committee to review the 16 proposals, from operators such as MTN, Vodacom, Telkom, Dark Fibre Africa, SA Digital Villages, ATEC, Liquid Telecoms, ClearlineIS, Posix and Cool Ideas.

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