CAPE TOWN City is investing in Broadband Infrastructure.
And the Cape Town City Council confirms that as part of its commitment to build an Opportunity City, it has set aside an initial R213 million towards the R1.3 billion required for the proposed roll out of broadband infrastructure throughout the Metro.
The city says: ?This project, jointly funded by the City of Cape Town and the Provincial Government of the Western Cape will not only deliver major benefits to the City and Province, but also have economic benefits to the community at large. The initial focus of the City has been both to reduce telecommunication costs and improve high speed data communications to municipal facilities. When fully implemented, the project will effectively improve the City?s ability to provide fast and efficient services to the residents of Cape Town.?
?This investment in broadband infrastructure will build-up extra data capacity in the city which will, in turn, boost our competitive advantage and help drive economic growth, development and inclusion ? especially in previously marginalised areas.
?Evidence of its commitment to the success of this project is that the broadband infrastructure programme is the single biggest capital expenditure item in the Corporate Services budget for the 2012/2013 financial year. R61 million has been allocated to the project for the current financial year and an additional R152 million for the two following years.
?The project is expected to take between 7 and 10 years to complete, depending on the level and timing of funding which it receives.
Further reported is that, beyond the key internal government objectives, spare capacity within the network will be made available to the private sector, enabling businesses to utilise high speed Internet connectivity which is so essential in today?s environment. Cost effective and high speed access to telecommunication services, computer services, internet-working and cloud computing have become pivotal cornerstones of economic development.
?Due to our proactivity, the City of Cape Town secured the DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplex) equipment used during the FIFA World Cup from the Department of Communication. This equipment is worth over R100 million; following just R900 000 of commissioning costs, the City?s corporate network is consequently one of the fastest municipal networks in Africa,? says the city.
Not only does connectivity give life to entrepreneurship but it also enables and fast tracks business growth. Affordable bandwidth is frequently cited as one of the main factors supporting investment and economic growth in developing countries. According to a study conducted by the World Bank, 1.4% growth is recorded for every 10% increase in broadband penetration.
In addition, the City is making the spare capacity on the City?s Broadband Infrastructure available by installing optic fibre cross connections to the data centres of Internet Service Providers and Telecommunications companies.? This will stimulate competition in the telecommunications market, and thereby help reduce costs to end users.
But more importantly, it will also allow these companies to offer services that were previously unavailable in less advantaged, outlying and commercially unattractive areas. By enabling quality Internet access to residents and entrepreneurs in these areas, the City is helping create an open, opportunity society in which economic reconciliation is possible, making Cape Town a truly Inclusive City.
Also, the advanced architecture of the broadband deployment guarantees that the City will have a valuable asset for many years to come. It also ensures that sufficient bandwidth will be available to support the growing operational needs of the municipality, the provincial government and external telecommunications operators.
The City and the Provincial Government have concluded a co-operation agreement whereby the City?s Telecoms branch provides broadband connectivity to key WCG buildings, in collaboration with the State Information Technology Agency (SITA).
And the City?s long term broadband infrastructure plan has been designed to build on this collaboration and can accommodate broadband connectivity to the Western Cape Education Department?s schools within the metro area, should this be requested by the WCG.
During the current financial year (2012/2013) the project will extend the City?s broadband infrastructure and corporate network to Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain, Ndabeni and the City?s southern suburbs.
The city added: ?Within the proximity of Ndabeni, there are more than 30 City and WCG buildings, while the City?s Plumstead administration building alone houses the third largest concentration of City employees.
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Source: http://africanbrains.net/2012/11/06/cape-town-goes-big-on-broadband-for-the-benefit-all/
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