German-based telecoms solutions firm ADVA Optical Networking says Cape Town's broadband fibre-network could be one of the fastest metro telecommunications networks in the world.
This follows a recent trial that showed the city's broadband fibre-network can sustain data speeds of up to 400Gbps across a 106km fibre-optic route. The 400Gbps trial was carried out alongside multiple existing 10Gbps operational signals supporting live traffic on the same fibre-optic cable.
According to ADVA, this is the first time data transfer speeds of this rate have been achieved on its network in Africa, and only the fifth in the world.
The City of Cape Town's mayoral committee member for corporate services and compliance, councillor Xanthea Limberg, said: "This demonstrates the high capacity and flexibility of the city's network, which is now used to connect over 300 government and private buildings. Municipal sites include administrative buildings, cash offices, clinics and libraries, which operate off the fibre network provided by the city."
Limberg added: "The trial demonstrates a potential quantum leap in both the speed and the potential performance of our network. At 400Gbps, it takes less than 0.02 seconds to transfer data equivalent to the capacity of a movie."
Being able to operate at such speeds will ensure the city is able to cope with its own internal demand for bandwidth for data, video and voice systems, she stated. "It will also invite significant economic development opportunities on the city's open access network, which is now being used by several commercial service providers."
Cape Town's network also supports a growing number of free public WiFi access points, which now stand at 190.
Limberg also stated the development shows the city's broadband fibre network should safely be able to cope with growing bandwidth demand for at least the next 20 years.
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