Cheaper calls on way
By Niyanta Singh
The eThekwini council looks set to forge ahead with a bold plan to create a "smart city" - providing cheaper telecommunications to boost business, and give the city's residents internet access and local calls at greatly reduced rates.
The city council's executive council was expected to approve the project this week, making eThekwini the first city in South Africa to use its networks for such a purpose.
Motivating the project is the high cost of telecommunications, and a drive to have as many citizens as possible "technology literate". It would be of advantage to big business, while helping smaller businesses.
Leading the project is Jacquie Subban, the Head of Geographic Information and Policy at the eThekwini Municipality.
She said the city already had a fibre optic infrastructure that would be used to connect businesses and citizens. Alternative methods of connecting people included using the city's power grid and wireless
communications.
City Manager Mike Sutcliffe said he was excited about the project which would transform Durban into a "smart city". He said they had met with no resistance from Telkom.
"We are going full steam ahead with the project. Those who are interested can get on board. Those who are not and oppose it will be rolled over. There is no stopping us on this."
Other provinces were expected to use the eThekwini model to put similar systems into place.
Subban said the project was expected to be rolled out over five years, with the first step, getting big businesses online, expected before year end.
The next step would be institutes such as universities, schools and hospitals, and then it would be rolled out to residents.
Subban was confident the council would accept the project, which they had been working on for 18 months. Pilot projects were already up and running, including a school in Umlazi which had been connected to the grid.
Most of the city's municipal telephone lines were now running on the new system and the city was already enjoying a reduction in telephone costs.
The system would operate, according to Subban, as a virtual private network.
"Even though a user would have an ordinary telephone, the connection would go through the city's fibre-optic network, instead of through a service provider's facilities."
Subban said a consumer could expect to pay an estimated R150 a month flat rate - although it was expected it would cost less than this.
This, she said, would be the only cost a consumer would incur for making telephone calls in eThekwini. There would also be 24-hour internet access.
"It is similar to how businesses structure their internal lines using their private networks. If person A in Durban is calling person B in Durban, there would be no call costs, even if they spoke to each other for the entire day and night.
"This would also apply if a person connected to the internet for the entire day or night. On the other hand, if a person in Durban were to call someone out of the Durban region, then they would use the same fibre optic connection to dial out to another service provider (Telkom) to connect to the other person."
Subban said this would mean nominal costs for internet connections.
"This is all in line with the city's vision to connect people quickly, cheaply and easily and to bridge the digital divide. Eventually people sitting in their homes in Umlazi, for example, would be able to log on to the internet using their television monitors as computer monitors, to access information."
Subban said the project went further than cheaper connectivity.
She said companies and residents would eventually have access to portals where they could access information such as tenders or career opportunities, products, new markets, services, education, and multimedia (music and video).
"What this means is the city can have a portal specifically, for example, for children aged 10 to 14. Here they would be able to access all kinds of information pertinent to their education, activities, etc, without the risk of them logging into porn sites."
Subban said they were running a trial project with SmartXchange, an ICT hub in the city, to determine their technological needs.
They had recently been to India to source manufacturers of low-cost mobile and desktop devices.
Subban said if the council approved their project, they would be ready to implement it for businesses in the next few months. "Residential consumers will, however, be the last to benefit, as they are on our roll-out plan in the fifth year of our plan."
Published on the web by Sunday Tribune on April 22, 2006.
By Niyanta Singh
The eThekwini council looks set to forge ahead with a bold plan to create a "smart city" - providing cheaper telecommunications to boost business, and give the city's residents internet access and local calls at greatly reduced rates.
The city council's executive council was expected to approve the project this week, making eThekwini the first city in South Africa to use its networks for such a purpose.
Motivating the project is the high cost of telecommunications, and a drive to have as many citizens as possible "technology literate". It would be of advantage to big business, while helping smaller businesses.
Leading the project is Jacquie Subban, the Head of Geographic Information and Policy at the eThekwini Municipality.
She said the city already had a fibre optic infrastructure that would be used to connect businesses and citizens. Alternative methods of connecting people included using the city's power grid and wireless
communications.
City Manager Mike Sutcliffe said he was excited about the project which would transform Durban into a "smart city". He said they had met with no resistance from Telkom.
"We are going full steam ahead with the project. Those who are interested can get on board. Those who are not and oppose it will be rolled over. There is no stopping us on this."
Other provinces were expected to use the eThekwini model to put similar systems into place.
Subban said the project was expected to be rolled out over five years, with the first step, getting big businesses online, expected before year end.
The next step would be institutes such as universities, schools and hospitals, and then it would be rolled out to residents.
Subban was confident the council would accept the project, which they had been working on for 18 months. Pilot projects were already up and running, including a school in Umlazi which had been connected to the grid.
Most of the city's municipal telephone lines were now running on the new system and the city was already enjoying a reduction in telephone costs.
The system would operate, according to Subban, as a virtual private network.
"Even though a user would have an ordinary telephone, the connection would go through the city's fibre-optic network, instead of through a service provider's facilities."
Subban said a consumer could expect to pay an estimated R150 a month flat rate - although it was expected it would cost less than this.
This, she said, would be the only cost a consumer would incur for making telephone calls in eThekwini. There would also be 24-hour internet access.
"It is similar to how businesses structure their internal lines using their private networks. If person A in Durban is calling person B in Durban, there would be no call costs, even if they spoke to each other for the entire day and night.
"This would also apply if a person connected to the internet for the entire day or night. On the other hand, if a person in Durban were to call someone out of the Durban region, then they would use the same fibre optic connection to dial out to another service provider (Telkom) to connect to the other person."
Subban said this would mean nominal costs for internet connections.
"This is all in line with the city's vision to connect people quickly, cheaply and easily and to bridge the digital divide. Eventually people sitting in their homes in Umlazi, for example, would be able to log on to the internet using their television monitors as computer monitors, to access information."
Subban said the project went further than cheaper connectivity.
She said companies and residents would eventually have access to portals where they could access information such as tenders or career opportunities, products, new markets, services, education, and multimedia (music and video).
"What this means is the city can have a portal specifically, for example, for children aged 10 to 14. Here they would be able to access all kinds of information pertinent to their education, activities, etc, without the risk of them logging into porn sites."
Subban said they were running a trial project with SmartXchange, an ICT hub in the city, to determine their technological needs.
They had recently been to India to source manufacturers of low-cost mobile and desktop devices.
Subban said if the council approved their project, they would be ready to implement it for businesses in the next few months. "Residential consumers will, however, be the last to benefit, as they are on our roll-out plan in the fifth year of our plan."
Published on the web by Sunday Tribune on April 22, 2006.
