Local open access dark fibre infrastructure provider Dark Fibre Africa's (DFA's) R75 million Benoni project is unaffected by the controversial moratorium on fibre installations on Johannesburg's East Rand.
DFA recently announced it invested R75 million in Benoni's communications infrastructure and is developing a fibre infrastructure in and around the city's metropolitan area.
DFA, which has been deploying open access fibre infrastructure across SA for the past four years on an expenditure plan of about R3.5 billion, has to date rolled out more than 5 000km of fibre.
The latest deployment in Benoni, says the DFA, is being carried out in cooperation with the Benoni Municipality and will “not only launch the city into the digital age, but also bring significant investment into the area”. About 40km of the fibre route is already completed and live, with a further 70km in progress.
DFA CEO Gustav Smit says the open fibre infrastructure will enable SA's cellphone operators and Internet service providers to offer communities easier access to the network, at greater speeds.
Metro moratorium
Fibre industry activist group FTTH Council Africa, of which DFA is a member, has been at loggerheads with the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) since last month, when the EMM summarily imposed what the lobbyist group terms an “illegal moratorium” on fibre installations on Johannesburg's East Rand.
FTTH Council Africa CEO Juanita Clark says, despite ongoing negotiations and requests that the moratorium be lifted, particularly in light of the prevalent job and commercial losses, it has to date not been lifted.
DFA executive of marketing and stakeholder relations, Tshego Ditshego, says the company stands in unison with FTTH Council Africa and, while the moratorium has not affected the ongoing Benoni project, it will stunt the deployment of infrastructure in the near future, should the EMM refuse to lift it.
“The moratorium is current, but it is on application of way leaves. It will affect us when we have to submit new applications, which will be in about three to six months.” Ditshego says. However, DFA is working with the EMM and FTTH Council Africa, and hopes to see the moratorium lifted by then.
Clark says FTTH Council Africa called for an urgent meeting with affected parties and legal council, to take place today. “We have reached a deadlock with the municipality and now the industry must decide on a way forward.”
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