Internet Solutions (IS) has joined the fibre movement in SA, bringing high-speed broadband to sites across Gauteng.
The company says, as part of its planned fibre rollout, 50 local business and retail sites will be equipped with fibre by the end of 2014. Commercial trials are also under way in Cape Town and Durban, ahead of a wider business park and retail rollout next year.
IS says the infrastructure for the sites, which has already been installed, was designed to deliver speeds up to 100Mbps, and "affordable leased line services" of 100Mbps and 1Gbps.
Greg Montjoie, executive of carrier and connectivity at IS, notes that one of the historical issues with fibre installations in SA is the high setup costs associated with deploying the service. "As part of our mission to ensure that everyone has access to affordable Internet, we have capped our setup fee at R999."
IS hopes the fee cap will eliminate the price barrier to entry, which it says has led many businesses to believe fibre connectivity is unrealistic. The company has also guaranteed its average installation time within the covered areas will be between two and four weeks.
The service will be available on a "try and buy" month-by-month basis, with long-term contracts not required, says IS.
IS's initial fibre trial will be rolled out to Kent and Oak Avenue in Randburg, Peter Place in Bryanston, Weirda Road in Sandton, the East Rand Mall in Johannesburg, and in Cape Town, to Westlake Office Park.
"Bandwidth demand from businesses is soaring and with Internet traffic expected to triple by 2016, the need for superfast speeds has never been greater," says Montjoie.
The company's fibre product is called the Essentials Package, which offers speeds from 2Mbps to 100Mbps from R749 per month for the 2Mbps services to R8 799 for a 100Mbps service.
This week, Telkom chief operating officer Brian Armstrong said the company would roll out its fibre-to-the-home solution to 20 sites, also by December.
Over 100 fibre sites are expected to come online in the next three years, as a growing number of residents start taking issues into their own hands and hire companies to trench fibre in their suburbs.
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