In the wake of news this week that the first homes in Parkhurst in Johannesburg have been connected to start-up Vumatel’s speedy fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network, Telkom has begun deploying home fibre infrastructure of its own in the leafy suburb.
Ryan Hawthorne, technical adviser to the Parkhurst Residents and Business Owners Association (Praboa), has welcomed the news that Telkom is also building fibre in the area, even if it means duplicating infrastructure. “I don’t actually like the term duplicating, it’s competition and it’s exactly what we need and what we want.”
Telkom is rolling out home fibre to 22 suburbs in Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban as part of a plan to deliver 100Mbit/s broadband to customers in upmarket areas. Parkhurst is one of the 22 areas identified by the company for its initial roll-out, which will be completed by year-end.
But not everyone is happy about Telkom’s decision to invest in the neighbourhood.
Vumatel CEO Niel Schoeman said on Tuesday that duplication of infrastructure for FTTH networks makes no sense, especially in a market like South Africa where homes are relatively far apart.
“In South Africa, there are long distances between customers. If you really want to make the business case work, you have to share infrastructure,” Schoeman said at the FTTH Council Africa’s annual conference in Johannesburg. “If another player comes into Parkhurst, they will double expenditure and halve the market, making it unfeasible.”
Schoeman said the big incumbents have a different view, but a “sense of understanding” is developing that the duplication of home fibre networks is a bad idea.
It would appear that Telkom’s FTTH project does not have the support from all residents of Parkhurst. Community members have complained on Facebook that there has been no engagement from Telkom.
At the weekend, one resident posted a photo on the social networking site of Telkom technicians hanging fibre over his roof without getting permission.
In the same post, Praboa chair Cheryl Labuschagne said that her e-mails, calls and text messages to the person heading Telkom’s FTTH initiative had gone unanswered. — © 2014 NewsCentral Media
