Name and Location
National fibre-optic broadband network, nationwide, South Africa.

Client
FibreCo Telecommunications (FibreCo), a partnership involving South Africa-based Cell C, Internet Solutions and Convergence Partners.

Project Description
The project plans to develop an open-access, long-haul terrestrial fibre-optic broadband network, in an effort to modernise the country’s transmission infrastructure to achieve world-class broadband connectivity.

The network will be developed in three separate phases and will ultimately cover a distance of more than 12 000 km.

The first phase will focus on rolling out a 4 500 km redundant core ring, which will interlink Gauteng, Cape Town and Durban to international cable-landing stations.

This phase will result in the creation of 2 300 direct and indirect job opportunities. It will also facilitate the training of at least 100 fibre-optic technicians, who will be certified under the internationally recognised Fibre Optic Association, which will be involved during the construction and maintenance of the network.

Phase 2 will feature additional routes to the Western Cape, the Northern Cape, Limpopo and Mpumalanga, as well as the borders of Botswana and Zimbabwe.

The third phase will add new routes, enabling further resilience in connectivity to the coastal areas and increasing capillarity.

The demand for broadband in South Africa is expected to escalate, which will be met as more capacity becomes available on the various submarine cables linking the country, and Africa, with the rest of the world.

Value
The project is valued at R5-billion.

Duration
Phase 1 of the project is expected to be completed in 2016.

Latest Developments
FibreCo continues to advance the multibillion-rand roll-out of South Africa’s largest long-distance open-access fibre-optic network, saying that it has already completed half of the first phase of the project, lighting up over 2 400 km of fibre-optic cabling linking Johannesburg, Bloemfontein, Cape Town and East London.

Construction of the first 1 000 km linking Johannesburg, Bloemfontein and East London began in May 2012 and resulted in the telecommunications specialist investing about R700-million.

Upon the completion of Phase 1 of the project in 2016, which will result in Cape Town and Durban being linked through Nelson Mandela Bay and East London, about 5 000 km of state-of-the-art fibre-optic cabling will have been laid across the country.

The company states that its dark-fibre network will provide the shortest and fastest optical-fibre connectivity between key urban areas, allowing clients to provide unlimited capacity with the exclusive use of one or more fibres with a physically separate connection.

Clients will be able to procure their own optical transmission equipment in line with their individual technical specifications.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
ZTE Corporation (national optical backbone network engineering, procurement and construction contract).

On Budget and on Time?
FibreCo is confident that the project will stay on track.

Contact Details for Project Information
Cell C switchboard, tel +27 11 324 4000.
FibreCo Telecommunications, tel +27 11 966 7731 or email pr@fibreco.co.za.
Convergence Partners, tel +27 11 550 5320, fax +27 11 550 5321 or email info@convergencepartners.co.za.
Internet Solutions, tel +27 11 575 1000, fax +27 11 576 1000 or email info@is.co.za
ZTE, tel +86 755 2677 0000.