The benefits of wireless communications technology are being harnessed by municipalities around South Africa, significantly increasing their capacity for service delivery.
Where wireline networks incur high ongoing monthly costs for the connectivity of a variety of applications - such as financial packages, applications for the management of electricity and water provision, dispensing of medicines and more - privately owned and operated networks deliver higher bandwidth at significantly lower costs.
According to Dries Els, CTO at GijimaAst, the power of wireless networks is particularly well suited for application by municipalities.
"High-speed data networks are essential for the effective delivery of a wide range of services, and have the further benefit of being able to rapidly connect even those areas where the traditional fixed-line telephone networks cannot," he says.
He notes that advances in the available technology have not only made the delivery of these networks less costly, but also that significant capacity can be created; while fixed-line ISDN or Diginet networks deliver bandwidth starting at 64 or 128 kilobits per second, a wireless network is easily capable of 48MB per second and even more.
"The technology obviously changes very quickly owing to the focus on development of wireless equipment; since we installed the first municipal network in the first such network in the Transkei area some two years ago, equivalent investments now deliver far greater capacity and are able to cover a wider distance," Els explains.
He notes that there were initially unanswered questions around the legality of such networks, particularly around the so-called `break-out` clause of the Telecommunications Act, which effectively precluded any organisation from operating a network outside of the boundaries of its own property. However, with a seasoned team of telecommunications and wireless networking specialists, GijimaAst ensures that any network is fully legally compliant before implementation.
"There have been several advantageous changes to the Telecommunications Act that in fact make it possible for a municipality to acquire the necessary PTN [private telephone network] licence from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa," says Els.
He adds that this aspect of network deployment, in addition to the necessary equipment procurement and installation, is handled by the GijimaAst team.
"Establishing a network begins with the licence application; once that is secured, the implementation begins with a full site survey and analysis with a software application that plots the network topology according to the terrain and the equipment being used," says Els.
Having been at the forefront of municipal area networks - establishing the country`s first such network in the Transkei - GijimaAst has honed its deployment methodology and has successfully created networks in locations across South Africa including Cradock, Sol Plaatjes, Buffalo City, Middelburg Cape and Umtata.
According to Mark Leach, Specialist IT Advisor to the Management Support Programme, Project Consolidate, who works with several municipalities, connectivity is fundamental to service delivery - and those municipalities that are truly serious about their mandate to improve the living conditions of their constituents are reaping the benefits of wireless technology.
"Police, healthcare, payment for domestic services like water and electricity - the management and allocation of these resources is aided tremendously by the availability of an effective and reliable network," he says.
Connectivity enables municipalities to take the services to the people, he continues. "With wireless coverage, establishing pay points is a simple matter of putting down a PC in the chosen area. That means a huge boost for people buying prepaid electricity, or settling their bills. Rather than spending money on taxi fare and then standing in queues for hours, payment becomes a simple and convenient task," he says.
The availability of bandwidth has also contributed to massive improvements in the efficiency of officials, who previously found themselves waiting 10 to 15 minutes for a screen to load.
"The capacity of a wireless network delivers instant response from remotely hosted applications - that takes care of queues and also means more productivity from the council employee," he says.
Cost reduction, improved governance
Not only does a wireless network enable the rapid extension of services to any point within the boundaries of a municipality, it also delivers a considerable reduction in monthly operational expenditure.
"A single leased-line between two areas can be expected to cost in excess of R1 million per annum, depending on bandwidth requirements - an enormous sum. Connectivity by wireline infrastructure is outrageously expensive - but with the wireless networks, these costs are eliminated, resulting in a considerable monthly saving in operational expenditure," says Leach, adding that leased-lines also deliver far less bandwidth, resulting in slower application response and longer queues at service points.
"The savings that are achieved are substantial and can be passed directly back to citizens, allowing for the further extension of services to more people," he adds.
Another noteworthy effect of connectivity is improved IT governance. "Consolidation is possible, as well as better financial management. Where previously efforts were being duplicated and expenditure loosely controlled, municipalities can now easily centrally host applications, with the accordant improvements in security," he says.
Significant cost savings are being obtained in municipalities by routing their internal telephone systems over the wireless networks through the use of voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) technologies. A small to medium-sized municipality can expect to save as much as R120 000 to R160 000 per annum. At the same time, communications are improved by providing a single contact number for the whole municipality, reducing the complexity of for customers.
Leach says partnering with GijimaAst has resulted in availability of experience and knowledge that results in the rapid, yet controlled roll-out of networks in municipalities across South Africa. "With its knowledge of the telecommunications environment, and proven abilities with municipal networking, GijimaAst has demonstrated an ability to help create rapid returns on investments that ultimately contribute to better service delivery for our citizens. There is no doubt about the benefits of wireless networks for local government; even though enormous improvements have been achieved, we expect far more services to result from the availability and performance of wireless technology," he concludes.
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