Wi-Fi killer?
"It is an exciting time for wireless in SA, with the launch of the country’s first licensed wireless frequency band heralding the end for unregulated wireless service providers.
"The arrival of Broadlink, a subsidiary of Wireless Business Solutions, means business users finally have access to a guaranteed, fixed-wireless, point-to-point data solution that boasts high throughput and quality of service," says Jacques du Toit, MD of Orion Telecom, which has incorporated the service into its telecommunications offering.
Called MetroNet, the service aims to provide a high-speed fixed line alternative for organisations seeking dedicated and guaranteed links between sites. It is said to be completely scalable as it is used for both primary links and secondary links in order to fulfil redundancy requirements.
According to the company, MetroNet guarantees speeds and provides unlimited data usage, manages and controls contention ratios to provide dedicated end-to-end capacity with no capacity sharing between clients, and has Gold Service Level Agreements which provide commitments on MTTR (Mean Time to Repair) and uptime. Broadlink guarantees an uptime of 99,5% during a calendar month for links within the metro with two-hour on-site response and a further two hours to repair.
"In addition to the service provided by MetroNet, including high-capacity 4Mbps clear pipe between sites, Orion Telecom customers have all the advantages of dealing with a single point of contact, a single billing entity and a single reporting process through Orion," says Du Toit.
The standard offering comprises 4Mbps, 10Mbps, 34Mbps and 155Mbps links, with optional 1Mbps increments. Costs are distance-independent with additional cost for cross-sector links. Johannesburg and Pretoria, for example, are in separate sectors overlapping in Midrand while Cape Town and Durban also form a different sector.
"Unlicensed operators will simply not be able to compete with this service," says Du Toit. "We expect that the unregulated environment will fall flat, which is great news for customers who are tired of the terrible service they have received up to now."
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