Revolution in the making

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 15 October 2006

In the next 18 months many SA municipalities will unintentionally challenge Telkom and Neotel by offering cheaper wireless local telecom services.

It’s great to see more and more SA municipalities investing in technology that will for one bring broadband internet access to more South Africans at heavily discounted rates. This will result in real economic benefits that are spread over a much broader spectrum.

According to Denis Smit, MD of BMI-TechKnowledge “...it’s irresponsible for cities not to invest in providing some kind of broadband service for their residents.” A PricewaterhouseCoopers study of EU countries “showed that for every E1 invested in broadband, there was a return of E 1,70 in urban and E 1,30 in rural areas” (MyADSL).

One exciting development is that municipalities can save a lot of money by setting up and using their own internal telephone networks. The Cape Town municipality “says it expects to save about R40m/year once its network is installed, while savings in eThekwini and Johannesburg enabled these cities to recoup the costs of building their own networks within four months” (MyADSL).

Another exciting development is the possibility that a “Gauteng-wide” integrated network might see first light if talks between the municipalities of Ekurhuleni (East Rand), Johannesburg and Tshwane are successful (MyADSL).

Knysna

The Knysna municipality is creating a WiFi network that will make free internet access to residents a reality. Although it will not stay free for long the municipality aims to only charge for usage after 45 minutes. In other words, if you’re a Knysna resident you will be able to surf the net for free for the first 45 minutes per session.

Cape Town

Free internet access is already a reality in Cape Town’s libraries. A free telephony service for local calls will see first late before the end of 2008 (MyADSL).

Durban

The eThekwine municipality in Durban is also planning a free telephony service for residents in regard to local calls. They’re testing a VoIP service.

Pretoria

The Tshwane municipality in Pretoria “has an entrepreneur in one of its townships, Soshanguve, using its network to offer an Internet service” (MyADSL).

It is evident from the above that SA municipalities might just lay the solid cornerstone that’s needed for a broadband internet/telecoms revolution in South Africa.

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa) can only hope that the political backers of Telkom will keep their hands off those municipalities that are moving in the right direction.