Having completed the roll-out of its next-generation network in June, eThekwini Municipality will now start selling excess capacity to local Internet service providers at wholesale rates.
Jacquie Subban, head of geographic information and policy, says the municipality is busy compiling its services roll-out plan, which it will announce at the second annual SmartCity conference, scheduled to be held on 1 and 2 October, in Durban.
The city has appointed Dimension Data to manage and maintain the network for the next three years. The company will also handle all commercial dealings in terms of signing up customers, although Subban says: “The legality will be with the city, so all final decisions and contracts will be with the municipality.”
The city is getting its first customer on board and hopes to have it connected between October and December.
It is also going to start piloting wireless for last mile access. The plan is that as clients (ISPs) come on board, schools and citizens in the vicinity of the ISP can access the network via that distribution point.
“The pilot will provide us with all of the information we need to decide if wireless is a viable last mile access technology. If it is successful, we will go to tender for a provider to roll-out. The pilot will also help us with 2010 planning,” she says.
Education priority
The SmartXchange technology innovation node and business incubation centre has been prioritised for connectivity to the city's high-speed backbone, as has the University of KZN.
Says Subban: “We're in discussions about either providing connectivity to the university's medical centre, or alternatively to connect it to the South African National Research and Education Network. One of these will be achieved by December.”
eThekwini set out a strategy in 2005/6 to make the City of Durban a smart city. As part of this, it embarked on an initiative to look at expanding its network and examine ways and means of developing it into more than connectivity for city offices.
The fibre network will ultimately span the entire municipal area, she says. At present, there is fibre stretching out to Umhlanga, Tongaat, Waterfall, Amazimtoti, KwaMashu, Chatsworth and Umlazi, as well as the southern industrial core.
eThekwini, in a press statement announcing its plans, says it will be “the first municipality in SA to reach this milestone [of] providing citizens with affordable connectivity and low-cost local phone calls. This means that, at a massively reduced fee compared to Telkom, all companies in the hub will have access to the network - Internet and e-mail - and make virtually free calls to other phones linked in the network. Ultimately, the network will span all businesses and residents in the greater municipal area. [Providing] a huge cost saving at vastly improved speeds.”
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