R1.2bn Joburg fibre project live in 2013

Businesses and consumers based in the “city of gold” will be able to access quality broadband services in the first half of 2013 with speeds of up to one terabit a second.

A terabit is the equivalent of 1m photographs, even if compressed to a 1MB JPG each.

Under a joint venture between The City of Johannesburg and technology group, Ericsson, BWired has laid done approximately 600km of fibre-optic cable across the city since 2010. This is the distance you would travel to Durban. The fibre spans across the city and links northern suburbs like Midrand and the southern parts of Soweto with around 100 buildings in the CBD.

The fibre will only be accessible next year once it becomes commercially available.

Head of media and public relations for Ericsson, Omasan Ogisi says the company is happy with the progress made so far. “There have been no significant delays and the progress on the construction side has been commendable. We are about three months ahead of schedule and expect to complete the project on time,” said Ogisi.

The Johannesburg Broadband Network Project (JNBP), which is an initiative undertaken by BWired, needs to meet the city’s “growth and development” strategy, which involves building next-generation fibre optic network.

It has to provide voice and data communications throughout the city and link municipal offices and entities, such as schools, clinics and hospitals to improve service delivery and communication between these facilities.

The network will enable the transport of any kind of internet or mobile data, video and voice over its dark fibre.

Dark fibre allows internet service providers (ISPs) to offer their products on the network.

Ericsson will provide the city with broadband services over the next 25 years, whilst it will operate the network for the next 12 years.

Despite Ogisi refraining from commenting on how much the company had spent on the project to date, the overall investment will be R1.2bn. The cost is related to the roll out of between 940km and 1 000km of fibre-optic cable in the city.

Source: Moneyweb