South Africa`s largest supplier of Internet connectivity to corporate South Africa, Internet Solutions (IS), has become one of the two largest independent suppliers of fibre optic bandwidth after signing a contract worth R150-million.
This means that about 30% of the ISP`s infrastructure is fibre-based as opposed to the previous 3%.
Says Stuart Hardy, general manager of the access division at IS: "Fibre offers a far more stable platform than satellite links and transfers data at up to four times the speed. We expect at least 20% of our client base will move over to fibre in the next six months."
As more South African companies do a greater portion of their business internationally, high-speed fibre links speed up the process.
"A fibre network lets companies, quite literally, trade at the speed of light. In the money markets particularly, speed is everything and seconds count," says Hardy.
The decision to purchase the fibre comes far later than previously anticipated due to the problems being experienced by international telecommunication providers. "We wanted to be sure that we selected a telecom provider that was financially strong and could guarantee our fibre service for the next three years, and to be sure, we had to wait".
Internet Solutions plans to double their fibre capacity within the next quarter at which point it will be the largest supplier of fibre in the country. "At that stage we believe that fibre will be closely priced to that of the satellite services currently being offered by Internet Solutions".
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