IS’s WiNet service a winner
Internet Solutions (IS) is increasingly focused on self providing last mile access to customers and is already providing businesses with wireless access – ranging between 2 Mbps and 1 Gbps.
According to Ian Isenberg, head of telco services at IS, the long waiting periods for connections from Telkom and a general lack of last mile access means that IS has embarked on filling this void themselves.
The company is using their Winet service, operating in the 5.4 GHz band, to supply point-to-point and point-to-multipoint links to corporate customers. This, Isenberg says, is basically a ‘diginet line through the air’.
Winet provides speeds between 2 Mbps and 1 Gbps with point-to-point links and 2Mbps to10Mbps connections with point-to-multipoint connections.
Isenberg points out that IS currently has around 80 fully operational high sites and can provide these access services in most major metropolitan areas.
IS is also trialing WiMax, and is only waiting for the appropriate licenses and spectrum from ICASA to launch commercial services to clients.
They have further partnered with Transtel and Neotel to provide customers with Metro-Ethernet services. Typical services include 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps connections.
Self provisioning legal
Questions have previously been raised by companies like iBurst about the legality of VANS using unlicensed spectrum to self provide access services to clients.
Here IS is in no doubt that it is operating within the law, saying that as long as a company is in possession of a VANS license, employing unlicensed spectrum and abiding by the rules governing the use of unlicensed spectrum it can definitely built its own network and provide services over it.
According to Siyabonga Madyibi, head of regulatory affairs at IS, current VANS license holders should maintain the right to self provide when their VANS licenses are converted into ECS licenses.
Madyibi is confident that IS will be issued an ECNS license which will make the company eligible to be awarded WiMax spectrum – one of the most treasured commodities in the telecoms market.
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