The R1,2bn fibre-optic network that covers all seven of greater Johannesburg’s municipalities will go live on 1 July. The network, built by BWired, a partnership between Ericsson and the city, will connect government buildings and businesses and serve as a wholesale network for telecommunications operators.

The network has a 1,2Tbit/s core capacity and covers more than 940km. According to BWired, all civil work was completed last month, with the installation of fibre 90% complete. All necessary fibre will be in place by the end of this month.

Come 1 July, the network will supply Internet connectivity to all City of Johannesburg buildings, along with wide-area network and virtual private network services.

BWired CEO Musa Nkosi says the completion of the build phase has happened on time and within budget.

“The principle behind this network was to provide ICT communications at a vastly lower cost, not only reducing the city’s communications costs, but enabling the rest of the residents of the city to benefit from the network roll-out,” Nkosi says.

Despite connecting all of its buildings, the City of Johannesburg expects to use only a fraction of the network’s capacity. As a result, other telecoms companies will be able to make use of the surplus capacity on a wholesale and open-access basis.

Nkosi says BWired has already connected 200 sites for one of South Africa’s mobile operators. It’s hoped the project will increase the affordability of broadband in the region. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media