The Gauteng provincial government (GPG) is preparing to issue a request for proposals (RFP) for the commercialisation of its currently-being-deployed Gauteng Broadband Network (GBN).

Speaking during a panel session at the Gauteng e-governance and ICT summit, in Midrand, on Tuesday, Finance MEC Barbara Creecy said the RFP would be sent out in the new year, following the conclusion of a feasibility study on opening up the network to the private sector.

The Gauteng Infrastructure Funding Agency (GIFA) was finalising a feasibility study on the potential commercialisation, while the province’s Department of E-Government was mapping out the financial framework.

This was in line with the GPG’s strategy of developing an “off-budget” solution to funding infrastructure development amid a limited or tight budget.

Gauteng would invest more than R1-billion over a five-year period to deploy the network, with R250-million allocated to the project in the current financial year.

The Department of E-Government’s sister departments were injecting R1.5-billion a year on programmes, systems and applications that would allow them to run e-government services.

GIFA was tasked with developing alternative funding options and innovative financing solutions and supporting public institutions during project preparation for Gauteng’s strategic infrastructure projects.

“By opening up the network, we are opening up opportunities,” Creecy commented, pointing out that the plan was to develop a partnership that would enable the department to fund any expansions and maintenance of the network while allowing private-sector partners to leverage the 1 600 km broadband network.

The roll-out of the GBN kicked off this year, with eight nodes already connected to the core fibre-optic high-speed 10 Gb/s transmission network running across Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Sedibeng and the West Rand.

The eight core nodes connected included the Telkom Data Centre; 75 Fox street, Imbumba House; Teraco, 82 Grayston drive; Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital and the West Rand district municipality, as well as the Steve Biko Academic Hospital and the Sedibeng district municipality.

This year, the project would connect 263 access sites across the Gauteng province, with the GPG expecting to link seven township economic zones and pioneer public access to e-government services at 24 Thusong centres in Soweto, Tembisa, Alexandra, Diepsloot, Kagiso, Vosloorus, Sebokeng, Mamelodi and Hammanskraal.