Local loop unbundling will not happen before 2011, at the earliest, and that is why Neotel has decided to lay thousands of kilometres of fibre-optic cable around the country, says Neotel chief technical officer Angus Hay.
Speaking at the Informa Africacom conference this week, Hay said Neotel was effectively duplicating the local loop as it is essential for connecting enterprises to the network.
Local loop unbundling is the regulatory means of allowing competing telecommunications carriers to access parts of the incumbent's local exchange network in order to provide a service to its customers.
In her budget speech this year, communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri urged the regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA), to take advantage of the Local Loop Unbundling Committee report and allow all appropriately licensed operators to have access to the local loop by 2011.
However, industry observers are sceptical that ICASA, which currently has an extremely high work load with the licence conversion process, frequency spectrum planning and other tasks, will be able to complete the local loop unbundling process by then.
Primary transmission
Hay also pointed out that the laying of fibre-optic cable as Neotel's primary transmission infrastructure had several other advantages: it was not stolen as often as cable, speeds were far higher than on copper, and it gave Neotel the base layer for a fully operational IP (Internet protocol) network.
“Fibre is only stolen once, because there is no point in trying to steal it a second time. Copper is stolen again and again,” he noted.
Hay said the Neotel network comprises three layers, with the physical layer being the cable, the IP layer being the top or third layer, while the second layer, which is often overlooked, is the Ethernet layer.
“Having Ethernet as the second layer means we have taken a local area network and stretched it across the country.”
Hay commented that wireless is important for two reasons: firstly, the speed of its deployment and, secondly, it has become the de facto means of communication. This is why Neotel decided to roll-out a fixed wireless solution in the form of W-CDMA as its consumer solution.
Bridging the digital divide is still a big issue and is one of the reasons 3G and 2G wireless technology is still so popular in Africa, he added.
No broadband
“But let's face it. Most Africans will not have broadband for a long time,” he said.
Opening up SA and the rest of the continent to more international connectivity is also helping the overall market.
“On the East Coast, we have the Seacom cable, which is a really substantial system; it is really an open access system and we are helping to land it. The Eassy (East African Submarine Cable System) will also land and competition will be good for the market.”
He said a new undersea cable system will be deployed on the West Coast and it should be operational by 2011.
“We need to see more international operators linking up with local operators as we are now all part of the global economy.”
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