Fibre coming to George

Dark Fibre Africa is rolling out a R15-million fibre network in George

Staff Writer

February 28, 2012

In cooperation with George Municipality, Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) is currently deploying a fibre infrastructure to the value of R15-million, the infrastructure company announced in a press statement today (28 February 2012).

DFA said that other nearby cities that will benefit from this rollout include Knysna, East London and Mthatha with an investment value in excess of R80-million.

Dark Fibre Africa CEO Gustav Smit said they merely provide the open fibre infrastructure. “This enables licensed operators such as Vodacom, MTN and Cell C to give communities access to the network. It is now up to the Internet service providers (ISPs) to get fibre Internet connections to the homes.

Open Access broadband also stimulates competition within the telecommunications market, ultimately reducing Internet costs, DFA said.

According to DFA, municipalities will be able to provide electronic services, education levels will improve with access to information, and communities will have access to eHealth and eLearning.

Smit once again called on ISPs to play a leading role in mobilising communities. “End users simply don’t know what 20Mbps or 100Mbps to the home means. An opportunity needs to be created for users to test drive serious broadband.”