Vodacom mum on fibre venture

By Candice Jones, ITWeb online telecoms editor

Johannesburg, 20 Jan 2009

Local telecommunications giant Vodacom is keeping its network plans under wraps, for now.

For years, telecoms operators have been reliant on Telkom's national infrastructure for their backhaul - or the ground-based technology that houses the wireless services - Vodacom included.

However, last year saw all the mobile providers looking at new options, and both Vodacom and MTN started to roll-out metro fibre rings that would at least give them in-city capacity of their own.

Last week, MTN and Neotel announced plans to co-operatively lay 5 000km of fibre that will form national backbone infrastructure for the companies. Discussion of the deal, which began last year, initially included Vodacom; however, the company was not present at the grand announcement last week.

Dot Field, Vodacom's chief communications officer, says: “Vodacom has been building metropolitan fibre networks for the last two years, and has also been closely involved in the discussions around a national fibre network.”

No choice

However, she would not reveal whether the company had decided to join MTN and Neotel in the venture. “Vodacom will make more information about our transmission plans available at the appropriate time,” she adds.

Vodacom has plans to complete 11 fibre metro rings, which Vodacom Business executive director Wally Beelders noted last year would be extended to a national fibre backbone. The entire project has been given a three-year time frame.

Mobile operators have noted that leasing capacity from Telkom will not be a feasible option for very long, and the operational costs will become unmanageable.

Vodacom's decision not to join the fanfare just yet may have a two-fold reason. Firstly, the company has not quite yet been freed from Telkom's clutches, and it is trying to find the best possible use for newly-acquired network business, Gateway.

Taking time

Richard Hurst, IDC Africa programme manager of communications, in an earlier interview, said it makes sense for the operators to build their own backhaul networks. “However, for the immediate future, they will have to rely on Telkom for the infrastructure.”

He added that, as demonstrated by Neotel's infrastructure deployment, building that type of network does not happen overnight. “It takes planning, thought, time and money to get backhaul right.”

Hurst believes self-provisioning is also a double-edged sword for the operators, because they will now be held accountable for any trouble on any part of the network.