Smart Village, a MultiChoice-owned company specialising in large-scale deployments of fibre-to-the-home multi-service networks, will soon be promoting an open access network to ISPs in 56 residential estates throughout SA.
"We have a strong national footprint in last-mile infrastructure, with over 11 000 homes and businesses already connected and enjoying our fully integrated multimedia, telecommunications (voice and data) and IP-based solutions," explains Smart Village MD, Chris van der Walt.
According to Smart Village, as the name implies, open access networks refers to telecommunications networks that are open to allow suitable and authorised independent service providers to deliver services to end-users.
"Opening our networks will allow other players, such as Telkom, Neotel, MWeb, etc, to provide telephone or broadband Internet services to residents making use of our network architecture," he explains.
The company notes that one of the benefits of an open access network is creating a competitive environment in the market for end-user broadband services.
"Our customers will now also enjoy the benefits of choosing their own services and service vendors," Van der Walt says, adding that the Waterfall Development, in Gauteng, is the first open access network operated by Smart Village on this basis. "Our other residential estates are soon to follow this trend."
The company also explains that customers living in residential estates that are on the Smart Village networks will continue to enjoy its Quadra-Play range of value-added services, such as telco-grade VOIP telephony services, high-speed broadband access, and TV and video services, including rich multimedia IP services.
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