After last month issuing a call for proposals for the roll-out of an extensive fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network throughout the Johannesburg suburb of Parkhurst, the Parkhurst Residents and Business Owners Association (Praboa) has nominated new market player Vumatel as the preferred fibre provider.
This followed a vote at the Praboa annual general meeting on May 13 and a competitive selection process that was finalised on May 31, after giving network operators and service providers until May 30 to submit their bids for the installation of an upgradable next-generation access network that allows for high Internet speeds for homes, businesses and public spaces.
The adjudication committee, comprising Parkhurst residents, reviewed 16 proposals from operators, such as MTN, Vodacom, Telkom, Dark Fibre Africa, SA Digital Villages, ATEC, Liquid Telecoms, ClearlineIS, Posix and Cool Ideas.
Security providers Cortac and CSS also submitted proposals.
“We selected Vumatel because of their excellent technical proposal, a solid business plan that showed the project was financially viable and fully funded, a comprehensive community communications plan, and commercial terms that were very favourable to the residents,” commented Parkhurst resident Ryan Hawthorne, who guided the selection process.
Vumatel’s proposal includes a one-off installation fee of R2 500 per household and line speeds of between 4 Mb/s and 1 Gb/s.
The 4 Mb/s line speed will be offered free of charge, with the next line speed of 50 Mb/s to cost R499/m.
The 1 Gb/s option will be offered at R1 299/m, with all options having contract terms of 24 months.
Bandwidth can be purchased from several competing providers at an estimated cost of between R2/GB and R10/GB, depending on usage. Some providers can offer uncapped access.
The fibre roll-out is expected to take between six and 12 months.
Describing Vumatel’s open-access model as “impressive”, Praboa noted that, by decoupling the line cost from the bandwidth cost, residents would have a choice of operators from which to buy bandwidth.
“The 4 Mb/s free option will be a great choice for residents on limited budgets. Getting about 20 GB of [data] on a 4 Mb/s fibre line for perhaps R150/m is a fantastically good deal,” it stated.
“We are all too familiar with the poor quality of mobile and Internet-based communications in Parkhurst. Until now, getting 1 Mb/s reliably has been very difficult. The fibre roll-out will change people’s perspectives on what is possible with broadband.”
A new entrant to the FTTH market, Vumatel is headed up by Conduct Telecommunications SA founder Niel Schoeman, who has developed over 40 last-mile fibre solutions for business precincts in South Africa.
Conduct Telecommunications SA was recently sold to Dark Fibre Africa.
“We look forward to working with the Park-hurst community and residents to start this grassroots telecommunications revolution. It is time for consumers to get a better service, choice and a fairer deal,” he remarked.