Telecommunications start-up Vumatel says the first homes in Parkhurst have gone live on its fibre-to-the-home network (FTTH) with speeds of up to 1Gbps.
The company broke ground for the fibre project in the Johannesburg suburb at the end of August. Dubbed Vuma 'fibrehoods', connected residents in Parkhurst are the first in a planned rollout of 42 suburbs to enjoy what Vumatel says is "world-class connectivity".
Vumatel CEO Niel Schoeman says "we are on schedule in Parkhurst and will connect all the homes by February of next year". Vumatel aims to roll out to 200 000 houses over the next three to four years, which equates to about 100 suburbs.
The telecoms company has identified the following Johannesburg suburbs for fibre deployment:
Atholl, Beverley, Blairgowrie, Douglasdale, Emmarentia, Forest Town, Fourways, Gallo Manor, Greenside, Houghton Estate, Hurlingham and Hurlingham Manor, Hyde Park, Illovo, Inanda and Chislehurston, Killarney and Riviera, Linden, Lonehill, Melrose and Birdhaven, Melville, Parkhurst, Parkmore, Parktown, Parktown North, Parkwood, Pine Slopes, River Club, Sandhurst, Saxonwold, Upper Houghton, Victory Park and Westcliff.
The suburbs in Cape Town it has identified are:
Bishopscourt, Camps Bay and Bakoven, Constantia, Fresnaye, Gardens, Mouille Point, Newlands, Oranjezicht, Sea Point, Tamboerskloof and Vredehoek.
The Vuma network provides fibre to the home on an open access basis by supplying fibre connections of 4Mbps, 50Mbps, 100Mbps and 1Gbps. This means any licensed service provider can make use of the fibre to supply services to its customers.
MWEB, WebAfrica and Smart Village have joined Cool Ideas, Cybersmart and Vox Telecoms in providing services with further service providers to announce their participation in the coming weeks. "Parkhurst is the first of many in South Africa and we look forward to soon announcing the next suburb scheduled to receive fibre," says Schoeman.
Another similar, community-led, project is also on the go in Craighall Park. CraigPark Residents Association chairman Ryan Roseveare has said its project will cover about 2 500 homes at a total cost of R4.7 million through aerial fibre (about a tenth of the cost of what trenching would have cost).
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