Local infrastructure provider Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) has introduced a low-cost shaped fibre offering.
The company explains that licensed service providers utilising its long-haul route from KwaZulu-Natal to Gauteng can now pay by the gigabit-per-second rather than for a full fibre pair.
"This offering should result in massive cost savings compared to what was offered before, especially compared to what is available in the 'managed services' market at the moment," says CEO Gustav Smit.
DFA adds that customers will pay a fixed monthly lease, based on the transmission speed they need.
"DFA's extensive metro fibre networks in Gauteng and Durban are linked to the long-haul connection points in Pretoria and Durban. This means that points of presence in these metro areas can easily be linked to the long-haul route."
Bandwidth justification
Smit says long-haul bandwidth can be extremely expensive and can easily increase operating costs and eat into one's profit.
The new shaped fibre will cost between R200 000 and R500 000 per month for up to 1Gbps and 5Gbps, respectively. This is a price reduction of 78% on the 1Gbps option. However, should customers exceed 5Gbps, the current unlimited option at R900 000 per month will apply.
"Customers still install their own equipment on our dark fibre, but they only pay for the speeds at which they transmit their data. We know that many of our clients could benefit from connections on this route, but that their bandwidth requirements don't necessarily justify a full-capacity fibre channel," says Smit.
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