2010 network for all

By Audra Mahlong for Telkom
Johannesburg, 26 Mar 2009

Bandwidth-hungry applications for the two major soccer tournaments will not leave any South Africans in the dark, says Telkom.

Speaking to media at a 2010 ICT readiness demonstration at Loftus Versveld, in Pretoria - Telkom Fifa 2010 project director Thami Magazi stated the plans for both the Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup had taken local customers into consideration.

“We have accommodated for our customer growth requirements and included them in our plans. So no one is going to be in the dark during the World Cup,” said Magazi.

He adds the company's next-generation network (NGN) plans were being fast-tracked to meet Fifa's requirements - and this was the same network which would service local customers during the tournaments.

In 2006, the fixed-line operator announced its plans to ensure over a third of its network would be NGN-based by 2011. Almost R5 billion was invested in the creation of the NGN and, in 2007, Telkom announced plans to spend another R25 billion in the next four years on the project.

While Telkom had not released any timelines for the roll-out of its NGN network, it stated the project had been running ahead of schedule in anticipation of the 2010 World Cup.

Bandwidth-hungry

Telkom will provide all infrastructure requirements for national and local connectivity during the tournaments and an intra-stadium LAN network to connect all venues.

Magazi stated it would meet all its requirements through two primary links, located separately and protected by the national network. He added there is redundancy in both links and a single link has enough capacity to cater for all requirements.

The broadcast centre for the Confederations Cup, the IBCC - which will be hosted at Ellis Park Stadium - will also be catered for on the network, said Magazi. Broadcasts are expected to be in high-definition format.

“Our readiness is complete in as far as what we can do,” states Magazi.