Steyn City, the enormous, R6bn property development north of Johannesburg spearheaded by business tycoon Douw Steyn, has revealed ambitious plans to build an advanced fibre network to connect homes and businesses in the area.
Steyn City, which will be launched in March 2015, is a mixed-use lifestyle development already under construction along the Jukskei River between the R511 (William Nicol Drive) and Cedar Road. It is located between the upmarket gated community of Dainfern and the impoverished Diepsloot township.
It is the biggest such property development in Johannesburg in years, with the site reportedly costing R6bn even before any homes are even built there.
On completion, it will comprise residential, commercial, retail and leisure components, an 18-hole championship golf course, all set in a thousand acres of planted woodland.
The developers have now announced that residents will get fibre to the home (FTTH) and they will provide an interactive Internet protocol television (IPTV) “middleware layer” that will offer a “portal” on homeowners’ TV sets allowing them access a range of features.
These features will include home multimedia sharing (homeowners will enjoy content from any smart device), voice-over-IP services on TV (voicemail and message notifications), Web browsing on TV while simultaneously watching live programming, social media integration, instant messaging and weather information.
There will also be IPTV and video-on-demand products available, as well as facilities to book recreational facilities, like golf, online. The FTTH network will be linked to Steyn City’s closed-circuit television network, allowing residents to monitor activity around them.
Residents will also be able to access the portal through the Web and a smartphone application, providing real-time access to city and resident information such as city notifications, utility billing and Internet usage statistics.
The FTTH network will be open access, meaning residents will have the freedom to choose which service provider will offer them broadband Internet access.
To support this infrastructure, Steyn City has built two data centres. These facilities will handle all technology communication requirements, including security surveillance, city management and metering systems. “This integration avoids unnecessary duplication of infrastructure and overspend,” says Steyn City Properties head of electronics and ICT Carlo Cecchi.
News of Steyn City’s FTTH plans come just a week after residents of the Johannesburg suburb of Parkhurst announced that they intend issuing a tender to a service provider to build a fibre network to connect homes and businesses in the area in a move that could spark a race to wire up well-to-do suburbs around the country to fibre-based broadband. — © 2014 NewsCentral Media