Fibre roll-out should not be limited to the leafy suburbs of SA, as Internet connectivity is desired by everyone in the country.
That was the word from Indra de Lanerolle, a media and communications producer and researcher, speaking during the FTTH Council Africa 2014 Conference in Johannesburg this morning.
Suburbs like Parkhurst and Craighall Park have taken it upon themselves, hiring companies to trench fibre throughout suburbs in a bid to boost Internet speeds. Parkhurst, a suburb with an estimated 2 000 houses, as well as businesses, is set to be fully covered with fibre, with speeds of up to 100Mbps, by February, covering a total of 54km.
The CraigPark Residents Association - based in Craighall Park - early this year also announced it will offer residents fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) connectivity.
However, De Lanerolle noted if fibre is not to be limited to these select suburbs, SA needs to put in place public and private partnerships for fibre to reach the larger populace. "If we want to connect everyone, we need that connection between the private and public sectors first," he said.
For example, he said City Power has a lot of poles in Johannesburg but only licensed three companies to put fibre there - that is not the way to go. He also called on Telkom to share its infrastructure in order to advance fibre deployment in SA.
He pointed out he recently had visited Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, which is relatively poorer than SA, but there is fibre everywhere in the city.
According to De Lanerolle, a recent survey before the roll-out of fibre in Parkhurst revealed 96% of the residents would consider switching to a new Internet service mostly because of the current low speeds.
He added that 90% of the households without an Internet connection would still consider a fibre connection and no one in the survey said they don't want Internet connectivity.
Share
