Photo by: Reuters
Alcatel-Lucent, Bytes Systems Integration and the City of Cape Town have teamed up to deploy high-performance Internet protocol (IP) network infrastructure to reduce the cost of broadband in the Western Cape.
Alcatel’s advanced IP core routing network technology would facilitate high-speed local government services, while assisting the city in lowering the cost of broadband connectivity, connecting underserved communities and stimulating new digital business development.
Under a three-year agreement between the City of Cape Town and Bytes, Alcatel was tasked with rolling out its ultra-broadband solution to enable high-speed government administration and management services, including access for emergency services.
“The development of this high-speed communications infrastructure will further reduce the cost of broadband services through enabling open-access to the city’s broadband infrastructure for commercial service providers,” said City of Cape Town telecommunications manager Leon van Wyk.
The access for communication providers would drive economic growth, facilitate the delivery of e-services and allow for the connection of underserved communities.
Meanwhile, Alcatel also secured a contract to apply its cloud networking technology in Burkino Faso to connect government, education, cities and industries.
The provision of Alcatel’s Network Functions Virtualisation, Cloudband and IP platforms would enable Burkino Faso to develop new digital public services, such as e-government, e-learning and e-health, with around 400 buildings in 13 regional urban centres connected through a 513 km fibre-optic IP/Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) wide-area network.
The cloud-based platform would be integrated into the ‘G-Cloud’ infrastructure being built around virtualised network resources from cloud nodes in Ouagadougou and five provinces.
“The G-Cloud network will allow for the distribution of applications and resources at all times, wherever necessary, while providing consolidated cloud and network management. This will allow the system to be operated as a unique virtual environment.
“This project will have many positive impacts for Burkina Faso, including micro- and macroeconomic growth, and increasing the efficiency of the provision of health and education services,” said Minister for the Development of the Digital Economy and Posts Nébila Amadou Yaro.
Further, in Tanzania, Alcatel inked a three-year frame agreement with the Tanzania Telecommunications Company Limited (TTCL) to modernise the operator’s IP/MPLS and optical transport networks.
Alcatel was tasked with transforming TTCL’s operations, converging fixed and mobile access on to one network, with unified management across the IP and optical layers for improved efficiencies to allow the telecommunications company to meet the bandwidth needs of its fixed and mobile access customers.
The first phase of the nationwide project, covering major cities Dodoma, Arusha, Morogoro, Mwanza and Dar es Salaam, would be completed in December.