More info here: http://www.miro.co.za/NewsSentech.htm
Net gauntlet is down
Sentech has an agressive plan to provide high-speed, wireless Internet services
23 May - Financial Mail
Sentech has been slow in offering multimedia services to end-users despite being awarded a licence to do so 12 months ago. But consumers can rejoice. The R500m-revenue state-owned company has spent "hundreds of millions of rand" on new wireless technologies in an aggressive bid to compete with Telkom in offering broadband Internet access.
New offerings will be launched in phases over the next six months.
"We'll start by installing 50-100 Wi-Fi hotspots in the next few weeks," says Sentech multimedia group executive Angelo Roussos. "Negotiations with landlords and partners are being finalised."
Short for wireless fidelity (and often referred to as wireless, local-area networks), Wi-Fi is easy and cheap to deploy. The radio technology allows laptop or handheld computer users in the vicinity of a hotspot to access the Web or corporate networks at speeds of up to 11 Mbit/s (50-100 times faster than a typical Telkom dial-up modem).
Public Wi-Fi hotspots are booming worldwide. In SA, Internet service providers M-Web and Internet Solutions, Wi-Fi specialist Wi-Tel and multinationals Cisco Systems and Intel are piloting Wi-Fi hotspots in airport lounges and restaurants.
For Sentech, Wi-Fi is just the start. It will complement its satellite Internet offerings, in particular those using VSat technology, which requires only a small satellite dish for two-way communication. "We have 100 VSat terminals countrywide and will speed up the implementation . Our hub can handle 8 000 terminals," says Roussos. VSat customers include the communications department, leading banks, Post Office outlets and small businesses around the country. Drawbacks of VSat, however, are high costs and latency, which results in delays when browsing the Web.
But Sentech has more up its sleeve. Though Roussos is reluctant to elaborate on what other technologies will be used, he says wireless broadband, based on the Internet Protocol, represents a paradigm shift in delivering multimedia services. "We are definitely not planning to replicate Telkom's network," he says.
Roussos expects that by September consumers will be able to buy a radio modem from retail stores. Installed in a home, this modem will allow users to access Sentech's broadband network without going through Telkom.
Sentech's plan is to grow its broadband wireless network quickly by licensing outside service providers, who in turn offer services to end-users. "This model," says Roussos, "will allow us to capitalise on Telkom's slow implementation of asymmetric digital subscriber lines (broadband services on existing copper wires). We want to open up the environment where anyone can connect to our network. This will drive network growth," says Roussos.
France's Alcatel is Sentech's primary "operating support system/business support system" integrator, supplying, primarily, the billing and customer-care components for the back office. Plessey is responsible for building the operational network and service-delivery systems, including network monitoring and service-provisioning systems.
In terms of its licence, Sentech is obliged to provide multimedia services (including video-on-demand, e-commerce and visual content) to anyone who requests this on "a reasonable, equitable and nondiscriminatory basis". But vague definitions in its licence have caused major regulatory problems.
Though Sentech is prohibited from offering mobile telephony and public- switched telecom services (basic services still offered exclusively by Telkom), it's allowed to build its own infrastructure necessary to deliver multimedia services. A key problem, however, is that Sentech has not been able to access Telkom's network facilities at wholesale prices. Nor has Telkom allowed it to tap into the Sat-3 undersea fibre-optic cable that links SA to Europe at a wholesale price.
A number of legal and regulatory battles are under way (see Technology & Communications January 24). But this is not holding Roussos back. "This will not hinder our implementation . We will push the regulatory envelope," he says defiantly.
This comes as communications department director-general Andile Ngcaba is considering a major overhaul of telecom policy to remove technology restrictions on operators (Technology & Communications May 9).
Regards
Peter Scholtz
Biometrics.co.za
anything is better than telkom.
] ) 
]I'm sure I will get someone to buy the Marconi POTS which will cover most of my initial layout. So I will be watching this development with great interrest.