Broadband boost for Western Cape

In her “State of the Province” address today (17 February 2012), Democratic Alliance leader and Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille, announced that they plan to bring broadband access to every school in the Western Cape.

Zille went on to say that they will build the largest mesh network in the world to connect all households in Khayelitsha, Mitchell’s Plain, and Saldanha.

Ideally, these areas with lower broadband penetration would all be connected within the next two years, Zille said.

She added that the goal is to connect 70 percent of government facilities and every school by 2014.

“It is clear that if we aim to create an international competitive knowledge economy, improve productivity and enjoy access to new markets, we need to invest far more in fast and affordable broadband infrastructure,” Zille said.

Cape Town has also previously embarked on a broadband infrastructure project which offered service providers access to a metro fibre network on a wholesale basis.

• Jan Vermeulen with Sapa
• Thumbnail is copyright World Economic Forum (www.weforum.org) / Eric Miller ([email protected]), used with permission

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