Great news for fibre in South Africa as networks are forced share infrastructure

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Great news for fibre in South Africa – networks must share infrastructure

The Supreme Court of Appeal in South Africa (SCA) has denied Telkom leave to appeal a ruling that will force it to share its cable ducts with competing fibre network operators.

This is great news for South African fixed line broadband subscribers, as forcing fibre network operators to share their conduits with one another removes an obstacle to competition.
 
Seems like good news but I have to ask. If it is allowed, then im sure many FNO's are going to avoid being the first to roll out to an area as it would be their major expense, when a competitor could just come in and roll out in a cheaper manner and undercut your whole plan for the area.

Looking at half the conduit builds in Durban, they are so small I doubt you can even squeeze in any more than one network into it.
 
ghostRgg said:
Seems like good news but I have to ask. If it is allowed, then im sure many FNO's are going to avoid being the first to roll out to an area as it would be their major expense, when a competitor could just come in and roll out in a cheaper manner and undercut your whole plan for the area.

Looking at half the conduit builds in Durban, they are so small I doubt you can even squeeze in any more than one network into it.
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Was about to ask, what incentive is there to roll out for an FNO? While this sounds great, it may actually be a setback...
 
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That means Telkom telephone poles can now be used to rollout other operators. I'm not sure if they will bite because Telkom/Openserve will charge quite a bit for them to use that. Will it be cheaper to lease the pole space from Openserve than getting wayleaves and trenching?

Interesting indeed.
 
ghostRgg said:
Seems like good news but I have to ask. If it is allowed, then im sure many FNO's are going to avoid being the first to roll out to an area as it would be their major expense, when a competitor could just come in and roll out in a cheaper manner and undercut your whole plan for the area.

Looking at half the conduit builds in Durban, they are so small I doubt you can even squeeze in any more than one network into it.
Click to expand...
Nothing prohibits the first FNO to charge all others for use of their ducts, conduits, and poles.

The infrastructure will be leased to those who are late to the area, probably at great cost.

In the long-term, it may actually be more beneficial to be the first to a neighbourhood since FNO 1 will reap monthly/yearly income from FNO 2, 3, 4, 5 etc.
 
netstrider said:
Nothing prohibits the first FNO to charge all others for use of their ducts, conduits, and poles.

The infrastructure will be leased to those who are late to the area, probably at great cost.

In the long-term, it may actually be more beneficial to be the first to a neighbourhood since FNO 1 will reap monthly/yearly income from FNO 2, 3, 4, 5 etc.
Click to expand...
Do you think there will be race to get neighborhoods lit up with the intention of charging other FNOs a rental fee?
 
ADrunkTeddyBear said:
Do you think there will be race to get neighborhoods lit up with the intention of charging other FNOs a rental fee?
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I don't think so.

Just because it is a possibility doesn't mean everyone will do it. Some may still decide to go through the whole process on their own and dig their own trenches or put up their own poles.

I suspect the Openserver and Vuma will be screwing over the little guy that can't afford the initial outlay.
 
cavedog said:
Will it be cheaper to lease the pole space from Openserve than getting wayleaves and trenching?
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I remember a discussion a while back on what Openserve wanted to charge for using/renting their polls and it was just as costly as trenching, hopefully, that changes so we can get more aerial fibre. But personally, I still believe in proper micro-trenching over, overhead fibre. Imagine having 3+ FNO's cables hanging all around the road and how messy it would be.
netstrider said:
In the long-term, it may actually be more beneficial to be the first to a neighbourhood since FNO 1 will reap monthly/yearly income from FNO 2, 3, 4, 5 etc.
Click to expand...
I hope that's the case, but the cost of trenching is stupid crazy, so even if you charge a crazy amount, it will still be cheaper than trenching the area.

What should be enforced, is open access proper conduits that are built when they re-do or revamp the roads. Trench once, have a small 5cm cut alongside the road by one contractor. No more need for multiple trenches, crazy civil works and all the drama that comes with it, but we live in South Africa so we know that won't happen.
 
ADrunkTeddyBear said:
Do you think there will be race to get neighborhoods lit up with the intention of charging other FNOs a rental fee?
Click to expand...
Maybe now we will actually see neighborhoods band together, ask the right questions and get the network they want, not actually bad, might not be as fast.
 
The SCA ruled that Telkom did not possess the infrastructure or cables which formed part of Dennegeur, but that it was owned, occupied, and controlled by the Home Owners Association.

“[Telkom’s] rights are derived from the provisions of Section 22 of the Electronic Communications Act. The rights conferred are in their nature servitutal,” the court ruled.
Click to expand...

That makes sense. It won't affect large scale roll outs on a neighbourhood level, but it will lower the costs of deploying to estates etc. The ruling only seems to apply with ducts that are on private property already.
 
Grossly inaccurate and sensational headline. The ruling only applies to certain estates under specific conditions. It does not compel other operators in other areas to lease out their infrastructure. How can you publish stuff like this?

Mike Hoxbig said:
Was about to ask, what incentive is there to roll out for an FNO? While this sounds great, it may actually be a setback...
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The facilities leasing regulations does make provision for renting out infrastructure. However it does not automatically mandate that a provider have to give permission and only that they provide an answer to a request. Even if Icasa decided to enforce this there is still the issue of pricing and a provider can charge any crazy amount to make it unfeasible or just as expensive in any case. Mybb shouldn't publish crap like this.
 
cavedog said:
That means Telkom telephone poles can now be used to rollout other operators. I'm not sure if they will bite because Telkom/Openserve will charge quite a bit for them to use that. Will it be cheaper to lease the pole space from Openserve than getting wayleaves and trenching?

Interesting indeed.
Click to expand...

I thought this only applied to private estates?
 
netstrider said:
Nothing prohibits the first FNO to charge all others for use of their ducts, conduits, and poles.

The infrastructure will be leased to those who are late to the area, probably at great cost.

In the long-term, it may actually be more beneficial to be the first to a neighbourhood since FNO 1 will reap monthly/yearly income from FNO 2, 3, 4, 5 etc.
Click to expand...
Ye at a cost that makes it prohibitive for FNO2, cool ruling but nothing about "at what cost"
 
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