Wi-TEL, a local wireless service provider, last night launched its microwave-based wireless services in Cape Town and plans to roll-out similar services in Johannesburg by the end of April.
The company says the service will provide connections of up to 1Mb between users and their respective Internet service providers (ISPs).
Wynand Kruger, marketing director for Wi-TEL, says the company is primarily targeting the corporate and small and medium enterprise market with its product which will "definitely offer cost savings over existing connections for companies".
Kruger says Wi-TEL, which was formally established late last year, is rolling out a number of sites in the Cape, including the Cape Town CBD, Stellenbosh and Paarl. He says the company plans to extend its service up to and possibly including Namibia in the coming months.
The microwave-based services rely on line of sight connections and provide a "guaranteed 128K connection between users and their ISP," says Kruger. Internet and international traffic will be carried by the respective ISPs.
Kruger says that as part of the service, users will be provided with a router box, antennae and the required cabling to receive and transmit data between user networks and their ISPs.
On the ISP side, Wi-TEL has set up a number of "high sites" providing the line of site connections required for connections. Kruger says the system can be used for any ISP, and more ISPs are coming on board as they "realise how important wireless will be in the coming years".
Kruger says that although the company guarantees a 128K local connection, the transmission speeds for the wireless local connection may be as high as 1Mb. He notes that the company will not oversell its bandwidth in order to guarantee minimum service levels.
He adds that the system has been running in "pilot mode" in Bloemfontein for a few months and has been well received by customers and ISPs.
Pricing for the service, says Kruger, varies depending on users` requirements. Subscription fees will be based on the amount of bandwidth used by users, but he notes that "there are definitely cost savings over existing lines ... and there are many subsidiary services that customers can take advantage of," including remote worker access.
Kruger says the company has established the legal framework for the service and has been in regular contact with telecommunications authorities during the roll-out to avoid problems encountered by other wireless providers.
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