CELLPHONE company Vodacom has joined rivals MTN and Telkom and announ-ced plans to invest in FTTH (Fibre To The Home) connectivity in KwaZulu-Natal.
Speaking at a press function in Durban yesterday, managing executive for KZN, Steven Barnwell, said in the 2015/16 financial year, the company would spend more than R1 billion on network development in the province, and would focus on FTTH connectivity.
Last month, MTN said it would be spending R1.2bn on fibre optic infrastructure in KZN, with R18 million going towards its new FTTH project in La Lucia.
And Telkom announced plans to roll out FTTH in areas including Ballito, Hillcrest and Mount Edgecombe.
Fibre optic cable uses light to transmit data and a fibre to the home connection takes that cable into the home or the premises of the end user.
Barnwell said yesterday that Vodacom was investing in Fibre To The Business and FTTH connectivity and that it proved most cost effective to work with “clusters”, such as business parks and housing estates, to begin with.
“We have our first estate live, which is Mount Edgecombe Estate 1,” he said.
Move
In what he called an “innovative” move, the fibre cables had been run in the sewerage on the estate to appease residents who did not want it dug up.
In addition to FTTH connectivity, Vodacom would also invest in adding 546 radio base station sites, which connect users’ mobile devices.
“We will be bringing faster data services to tens of thousands of people who currently only have voice services and Edge (enhanced data GSM environment) data services,” Barnwell said.
A total of 170 3G and 264 Long Term Evolution or 4G sites would also be upgraded, increasing network capacity, improving voice quality and enhancing mobile data speeds in major metropolitan areas, including eThekwini, Pietermaritzburg, Newcastle and Richards Bay.
Smaller towns such as Dundee, Charlestown, Peacetown and New Hanover Town would also benefit from these upgrades, and coverage in rural areas across the province would be improved.
“A large part of KZN still relies on inefficient 2G or Edge technology,” Barnwell said.
Vodacom wants all of its KZN customers to have access to 3G or 4G technology by the end of next March.
Last month, managing director of technology company World Wide Worx, Arthur Goldstuck, said there was a massive demand for FTTH in the market, and that everyone was “scrambling” to meet this demand.