Cape Town, 02 Nov 2005
The City of Tshwane (Pretoria) has teamed up with value-added network service (VANS) Storm to begin proof of concept operations to offer the city's citizens low-cost voice over Internet Protocol and connectivity.
Storm's business development director Dave Gale says the company will access the municipality's spare capacity and then on-sell broadband and connectivity within the city limits.
"Because Tshwane has a PTN [private telephone network] licence, it cannot resell to the public. However, we as a VANS can. So they have given us a point of presence in their building, allowing us to connect a Telkom Diginet line that will run to our Woodmead office in Sandton."
Gale says Storm will provide backend connectivity and interconnection with other networks, and it also provides services such as Internet connectivity and voice calls over the various technologies Tshwane is deploying such as powerline communications (PLC), wireless and fibre optic/Ethernet.
The fibre loops provide the backbone. Even if users connect using PLC or WiFi for the last mile, the voice or data traffic will ultimately travel along the fibre backbone network to Storm's node before interconnecting with other networks and spreading beyond the Tshwane region.
"For the time being we have no option but to use the Telkom line. However, once the SNO [second national operator] becomes operational, we expect to use their facilities because Eskom, one of the shareholders, has two interconnect points through the electricity grid."
Gale expects the first pilot to be completed by the end of this year.
"The PLC and WiFi technologies present some fundamental logistical questions as this will be the first time that Storm will offer services using these media. But, by the time the City of Tshwane and Storm have proved the concept and are ready to launch a commercial service, these questions will have been answered," Gale says.
He says the long-term objective of this project has always been to drive telecommunications costs within Tshwane down to levels that government expects. This will achieve two goals: firstly, it will catalyse economic growth in the city, and secondly, it will enable a greater sector of the community to access telephony and Internet services.
Gale says the idea for Storm's involvement in Tshwane's attempts to cut telecoms costs in its municipal area began during the first round of the Department of Communications' pricing colloquium held in August.
"I met with Charles Kuun, programme manager of the Tshwane Digital Hub, and we discussed the issues and we saw how we could become involved," he says.
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