Broadband Infraco is gearing up to start operations in the third quarter of this year.
The provision of services by the state-owned enterprise will be a welcome relief for South Africans who want cheaper broadband at higher speeds.
Infraco was formed three years ago, when government combined Eskom and Transnet's ICT infrastructure with the aim of unveiling a backbone to provide long-distance connectivity to telcos.
CEO David Smith says the company is “working frantically” to start work in the third quarter of the year and will announce a specific date as soon as the final details are wrapped up.
Smith says there are a few outstanding issues before the service can go live to the market, such as some technical and network solutions that have to be implemented, as well as customer-facing technology.
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.
Only Neotel is currently making use of Infraco's 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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Broadband Infraco a go
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