Statement by the City’s Executive Mayor,
Alderman Patricia de Lille
City completes Phase One of Broadband Network,
opening up the information super highway
The City of Cape Town believes that broadband connectivity is
fundamental to creating an enabling environment for economic growth,
development and inclusion.
This is so essential in today’s environment, as cost-effective and highspeed access to telecommunication services, computer services, internetworking and cloud computing have become pivotal cornerstones of
economic development.
International experience also proves that affordable bandwidth is one of
the main factors supporting investment and economic growth in
developing countries.
Against this backdrop and as part of our commitment to build an
Opportunity City, the City of Cape Town has set aside R222 million over
the next three years towards the R1,3 billion required for the proposed
roll-out of broadband infrastructure throughout the metro. This is in
addition to the R51 million allocated and spent in the past financial year.
The initial focus of the City in rolling out this network has been to both
reduce telecommunication costs and improve high speed converged
services such as data, voice and video, to municipal facilities.
Completion of Phase One:
The first phase of the City’s Broadband Project has been completed. A
total of 350km of fibre optic cable has been installed in the City’s own
duct network, which has more than 980 manholes.
Phase 1 has achieved the following milestones:
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90 City buildings are connected via broadband fibre.
A total of 25 City Clinics are connected by self-provisioned highspeed telecommunications services – either fibre optic or wireless.
12 Switching Rooms have been constructed, 10 are operational with
the remaining to be operational by December 2013.
103 City buildings are connected via self-provisioned Microwave
links.
With regards to the City’s partnership with the Western Cape Government
(WCG), 23 WCG buildings are already live and fully operational via the
City Telecoms broadband fibre, which will increase to 45 by September
2013.
The high capacity of the network has allowed high-bandwidth services,
such as distributed use of highly sophisticated City resource management
systems, and video conferencing, to be introduced.
To date, the City has saved over R25 million per annum on internal
telecommunication charges, which can in turn be used to fund the
expansion of the network.
Moreover, when fully implemented, this network will effectively improve
the City’s internal ability to provide fast and efficient services to the
residents of Cape Town.
Phase Two:
Phase Two of the project, which the City has now embarked on, has the
following objectives:
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To spread the fibre optic infrastructure throughout the Cape Town
metropolitan area.
To expand the existing Metro Area Broadband Network to over 400
public buildings, including clinics and libraries as well as
administrative buildings.
To form the backbone of a wireless network in underserviced areas.
This will bring internet connectivity and other telecommunications
services to over a million people living in disadvantaged and underserved areas.
To install a further 800km of core and local cable; and construction
of five additional switching centres and 90 aggregation sites.
To deploy point-to-point wireless connections where fibre optic
cable is not viable.
To connect approximately 470 City buildings and 112 Western Cape
Government buildings, including hospitals and clinics, to the
network
Spare Capacity:
Beyond the key internal government objective which is to provide fibre
optic infrastructure to areas that are not commercially viable for the
private sector, spare capacity rendered by our broadband network has
now been made available to third party licensed network operators. This
enables businesses to utilise high-speed telecommunications
infrastructure for access to converged services and internet connectivity.
In terms of these commercial interests, the City is currently in
negotiations with a range of Internet Service Providers. By offering
competitive tariffs, the City is enabling smaller operators to enter the
market, generating competition in the ISP sector and stimulating
economic growth in the Western Cape private sector.
Third Party Infrastructure lease agreements are now in the final stages of
being approved by the City’s Legal Services section which will expedite
the City’s fibre optic roll-out as this revenue stream continues to escalate.
This in turn will enable the City to finance the further roll-out of
broadband infrastructure from the revenue generated.
USTDA
In addition to bringing down our telecommunications costs and enhancing
service levels, the City is investigating how to broaden affordable network
access to residents in under-served areas in Cape Town. To this end, the
City has recently concluded a feasibility study, funded by a grant of
$315 000 from the United States Trade and Development Association
(USTDA).
This grant enabled the appointment of a number of international and local
specialists with the necessary experience to conduct an evaluation of the
suitability of the City of Cape Town’s fibre optic backbone as a basis for
creating an affordable Wi-Fi network in Khayelitsha and Mitchells Plain to
reach businesses and households in those areas.
While the USTDA grant was limited to funding the feasibility study and did
not provide budget for the implementation of the full project, it has
greatly assisted the City in gaining sufficient information to inform an
implementation decision.
Now concluded, the USTDA feasibility study has proved that a sustainable
model which is acceptable to the City and feasible in terms of the City’s
limitations for providing the infrastructure for wireless internet
connectivity is indeed possible.
Although the potential benefits of establishing such a public access
network cannot be disputed, there are many technical, commercial,
economic and social aspects which need to be thoroughly investigated to
ensure suitability of the technological solution and the financial
sustainability of the service.
In this regard, the City is pleased to announce that we have undertaken
to fund the Proof of Concept (POC) phase, set to begin in December 2013
and run for six months. During this stage the City will experiment with
different technologies in providing Wi-Fi to disadvantaged areas.
Depending on the outcome of the POC, the City intends to partner with
licensed third party service providers to render affordable internet directly
into the homes of residents in these areas using wireless technology.
While we are optimistic that the outcome of the POC will be as positive as
the results garnered during the feasibility study have indicated, we must
stress that any wireless internet provided during the Proof of Concept will
be in beta-phase.
Further, while it may be free during this phase due to its intermittent
nature, this will not the case beyond the POC. The City will provide further
information in due course.
Two of the five strategic pillars of this administration are to make Cape
Town an Inclusive City and an Opportunity City. By opening the
information highway to these less advantaged communities, we would be
making a significant contribution to delivering on both of those pillars.