State-owned Broadband Infraco will unveil its new network during the third week of November, which is estimated to have cost approximately R1 billion.
Infraco is a long-distance open-access carrier that will sell high-capacity long-distance transmission services to licensed fixed and mobile network operators, Internet service providers and other value-added network service providers on a cost-plus basis.
This is expected to trim the costs of communication in SA, as well as expand the reach of broadband, as Infraco's licence requires it meets certain targets.
CEO Dave Smith says the new network will offer improvements on capacity, resilience and accessibility. “We have established other points of presence in existing data centres and through other channels such as Neotel's metro links.”
The quality of the network has also been enhanced to achieve availability levels of 99.95%.
Licensing issues
The state-owned company has been plagued by licensing issues since its inception three years ago.
The Broadband Infraco Act stipulates that telecommunications regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA), had to issue it an individual-electronic communications network services (I-ECNS) licence and an ECS licence.
However, commercial ISPs objected to Broadband Infraco receiving an ECS licence, as they claimed it would give the company an unfair advantage in a highly competitive environment.
ICASA bowed to communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda's policy directive in January and only awarded the I-ECNS, even though the law stipulates that both should be awarded.
Thus, Smith says, the company will operate within a wholesale model only and will target both fixed and mobile operators, as well as Internet service providers. He reiterated that the consumer market is definitely not a focus for the company.
Infraco has completed 11 800km of fibre-optic cable, which connects Gauteng to the major metropolitan centres of Bloemfontein, Kimberley, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban, Nelspruit and Polokwane.
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