Paratus Telecom has started rolling out its Paratus communication service (PCS) throughout South Africa.
The Pan-African telecoms operator says it now offers connectivity that provides the same performance and reliability to that of fibre and is available in under-serviced fibre areas. "PCS is a high capacity wireless solution that aims to deliver direct access to services such as Internet, VOIP, video and cloud. It utilises a combination of the fibre optic infrastructure in conjunction with a robust 28Ghz licensed wireless solution for last mile access," said the company.
The service is built on the CFX national network, which is said to be the country's first nationwide open-access high-speed carrier-grade data network, it added.
Speaking on the advancement, Kallie Carlsen, MD at Paratus Telecommunications South Africa, said the PCS network went ready for roll out in February 2017 although the licensed infrastructure roll out from Comsol fibre connect (CFX) started in 2016. "Currently 136 sites are live in the major metros like Port Elizabeth, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, Durban, Bloemfontein and Nelspruit."
Carlsen says this service is connected to the Paratus global network at Teraco for the provision of Internet access. "Currently fibre density, or coverage footprint is not the same in the smaller towns as is in the major metros of Gauteng, Cape Town or Durban. So we focus on giving businesses in places like Upington and Newcastle, obviously also all other towns where there is PCS coverage, the option to connect to a business grade, licensed, high speed network."
He added that under-serviced fibre areas that are currently live include Klerksdorp, Empangeni, Port Shepstone, Polokwane, Upington, Rustenburg and Newcastle.
Comsol CIO Marius Swart says the combination of a fibre optic backbone with high-speed wireless access infrastructure provides near blanket coverage of metros, cities and district councils, adding that the CFX network reach is over 200 metropolitan areas across the country.
Carlsen confirms that from the onset Paratus has always focused on providing connectivity solution to users in rural areas. "We started off using satellite-based solutions and have now added the PCS services to our portfolio....we are striving to be total connectivity solutions provider and will continue to grow our partnerships to deliver this, providing access to Internet connectivity absolutely anywhere. With our groups' current African footprint, and network, we can assist South African companies expanding into Africa with connectivity solutions."
Paratus Telecom's total budget for Africa over the next five years is US$110 million.
He says with the service being a licensed band wireless service it will not be prone to all the general interference as experienced on the unlicensed services. "The current stated availability figures are in excess of 99.5 % with redundancy being greater than 99.8 %. Last mile is wireless, from where it connects to the national fibre backbone for back haul to our network."
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