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The end of copper theft?
ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 7 August
2007
Kabel-X, an
international company, has developed technology that makes the replacement of copper with fiber cheaper, as well as
five times faster than the conventional method of digging.
‘Kabel-X is able to replace existing copper lines with fiber without the need to
excavate and they announced today that they will be setting up an office in SA’ (Faster fiber rollout made
possible, MyBroadband, 1 August 2007). ‘According to Kabel-X they are currently the only company in the world that
enables operators to save substantial costs and replace copper with fiber at five times the speed of the
conventional method of digging’ (Faster fiber rollout made possible, MyBroadband, 1 August 2007).
In other words, deploying this new technology can save a lot of time and
money.
Is this a big deal in a South African context?
This is a BIG ONE for South Africa especially if one thinks in terms of the cost
savings that’s possible…
A list of benefits include:
eGovernment initiatives -
“We believe that in a country of South Africa’s size there is approximately 160 000 kms of copper cable and at
least 50 000km of it must be upgraded to fiber optic if government is going to deliver on its various eGovernment
initiatives” (Faster fiber rollout made possible, MyBroadband, 1 August 2007). This is according to Director and
Regional CEO of Kabel-X Middle East & Africa, Iain Giffen.
In other words, the technology can help the South African Government in the rollout
of their eGovernment initiatives.
Copper theft – Whether
copper theft will come to an end or not is debatable but the ‘trade’ will certainly take a knock if copper cable is
replaced with fiber optic.‘Since fiber has no intrinsic value,
Telkom could stand to save on the millions they spend each year to replace stolen copper’ (Faster
fiber rollout made possible, MyBroadband, 1 August 2007).
In other words, this new technology can help to curb the theft of copper cables and
make huge cost savings possible.
Income from retrieved copper – ‘Kabel-X estimates that the retrieved copper could be worth between US 20- 30 per meter’
(Faster fiber rollout made possible, MyBroadband, 1 August 2007).
In other words, Telkom can get between R140 and R210 per meter for retrieved
copper. Assuming that 50 000 km of the copper cable in South Africa must be replaced with fiber optic, that
means that Telkom could get between R7 000 000 000 and R10 500 000 000 for the retrieved
copper!
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