R1 billion Joburg Broadband Project to start soon

Alastair Otter

Alastair Otter is a senior journalist at MyBroadband, and focuses on software and hardware. He has a particular love for Open Source Software (OSS)...

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The first phase of the Johannesburg Broadband Network Project (JBNP) will begin next week. In late February the City of Johannesburg announced that Ericsson had been appointed as the successful service provider to partner the City in its broadband network project.

According to Adrian Schofield, manager of the Applied Research Unit at the Johannesburg Centre for Software Engineering, the network will effectively be a wireless data network supported by power line communications (also known as broadband over power lines).

The R1billion broadband project is aimed at transforming Johannesburg into a "digital city" over the next three years, resulting in a reduction in the cost of telecommunications, improved service delivery and increased access to information technology to every corner of the City

"We regard access to broadband as a key driver of economic growth and wealth generation. Through this initiative we will ensure that all the citizens of Joburg gain access to universally available, reliable and affordable broadband", said councilor Parks Tau, member of the mayoral committee for finance and economic development.

Debatable model
While many people welcome government’s investment in telecoms networks with the aim of driving down prices, others feel that government interference in the industry is what has left South Africa so far behind the rest of the world when it comes to broadband.

One of the proponents of municipal broadband, eThekwini Municipality head of city strategy Jacqui Subban, feels that government should invest heavily in broadband infrastructure. Subban stresses the importance of broadband access in terms of economic growth and social development, and said that broadband infrastructure should be made available cheaply.

One telecoms expert, who asked to remain anonymous, felt however that government’s involvement in the telecoms sector and network rollouts was unwelcome. He argued that municipalities were already stretched to provide basic utility services, and that the provisioning of telecoms services would simply put additional strain on already ineffective organisations.

He further argued that government’s involvement in telecoms in the past, typically through Telkom and Sentech, had hurt the industry and kept South Africa back, and that there was no reason to believe that things would be different this time.  He suggested infrastructure investment incentives such as tax breaks to operators rather than direct government involvement in such networks.

Africa Analysis analyst Dobek Pater has previously said that government’s plans of providing affordable broadband to its citizens may become superfluous as operators decrease their prices and make it more affordable to consumers.

Many municipalities investing in broadband
Many other municipalities across the country are also investing in broadband networks, including Knysna, Ekurhuleni, Tshwane, eThekwini and Cape Town.

Knysna, in partnership with Uninet, is seen by many as the pioneer in the municipal broadband and telecoms market with a well established wireless network providing its inhabitants with broadband and telephony services.

Discuss R1 billion Joburg Broadband Project to start soon