The City of Cape Town expects to save up to 40% of its annual telecoms expenditure once it has installed its own telecommunication network infrastructure.
Speaking at this week`s 2006 Digital Cities Forum, hosted by BMI-TechKnowledge, Cape Town infrastructure manager Douglas Gelderbloem said the city`s current telecoms bill was estimated at over R100 million a year.
This includes telephone directory services at R500 000, line-rentals and PBX at R12.5 million, telephone usage at R44 million, security (CCTV) at R2 million, data lines at R16 million and cellphones at R15 million, he said. Connectivity for libraries and clinics costs an additional R12 million a year.
"Despite assurances from existing telecoms providers, they have no commitment to delivering services to the poorest. Municipalities, on the other hand, have this as a constitutional mandate, and are better placed to deliver," Gelderbloem said.
"Based on our current tender, we will be able to install our own network, with dedicated 1Mb links, for a once-off cost that is far less than this."
This is why municipalities are moving away from existing telecoms providers, whose only aim seems to be to profiteer, he said.
Empowering the disadvantaged
In addition to cost savings, city of Tshwane Global Digital Hub Programme manager Charles Kuun emphasised the need to empower previously disadvantaged communities.
A point of pride for Tshwane is that eight days after the city went live with its proof of concept wireless network, a small Internet service provider operating out of Soshanguve, a township near Pretoria, went live on 5 October.
"This young man," Kuun said, pointing to picture of D-Squared owner Tshidiso Makwane, "is an example of how municipalities can help empower disadvantaged communities."
Challenges ahead
At face value, municipalities have a strong base to self-provide telecoms services, said Tim Parle, Lucent director of business development.
The Electronic Communications Act allows them to apply for a PTN/class licence, and they already have some physical infrastructure assets such as fibre, sites and street poles, he said.
The challenges, however, lie in the vagueness of policy from the Department of Communications regarding whether municipalities can self-provide telecoms services, and the possible conflict of interest with Neotel, Sentech, Infraco and the underserviced area licensees, he said.
Municipalities also lack an internal skills base and relevant experience to self-provide telecoms, although they can leverage each other`s experiences. Despite the challenges, there are boundless opportunities for municipalities to improve and expand service delivery, he said.
"The path is not without hurdles - beware those who fear losing the most," he said.
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