Cape Town - The City of Cape Town stands to save R8.4-million a year by transferring its surveillance cameras from Telkom to the city’s own broadband network.
Metro police own and operate 106 cameras that are used to combat crime across the city, but the technology provided by the commercial service provider is outdated, said Leon van Wyk, of the city’s telecommunications branch, in a report submitted yon Thursday to the safety and security portfolio committee.
He said seven of the existing cameras were not working, as Telkom couldn’t fix the equipment. The uptime of the camera network was often erratic.
Although it will cost R13m in capital expenditure over two years to migrate these cameras on to the city’s broadband network, the costs would be recovered in five years and the operating costs would be about R200 000 a year.
This is a significant saving considering that the monthly use of Telkom’s network is R803 000. If the city were to accept Telkom’s offer for an alternative contract at a cost of R704 158 a month, it would cost R42.2m over the next five years.
By migrating to the city’s network, there will be an operating cost saving of R30m over five years.
Van Wyk said the city would benefit in others ways: there would be improved security as CCTV footage would be on the city’s own network and it would therefore be actively monitored by the city; it would provide metro police with the additional bandwidth it needs to expand its CCTV network by an additional 30 cameras; it would expand the city’s optic fibre network into about 75 commercial buildings which could provide a source of revenue.
Van Wyk said new access cables would have to be installed into buildings with cameras that don’t have a city cable, while new cables would need to be laid to reach buildings outside the city’s existing network. The cost of this new capital construction would be about R25m over two years.
“Once the migration project is complete there is no need for the city to enter into contracts with commercial service providers, as the city will self-provide the necessary service,” said Van Wyk.
The migration will be phased in, and as each existing connection is replaced, the Telkom service will be replaced.
In a note to the report, JP Smith, mayoral committee member for safety and security said: “The migration of this broadband network needs to take place as soon as possible,, as it achieves cost recovery after 23 months.”
The city is also moving ahead with plans to instal a camera on Hospital Bend that will record transgressions that would be converted into fines.
Kevin Heckrath of safety and security, noted in a report to the portfolio committee the existing cameras would not be able to adequately record offences – the city would have to install new technology that could do so.
Heckrath said Transport for Cape Town has indicated it would fund the new digital camera, but had to be given an estimate of what this would cost.
Cape Argus