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Johannesburg - Saxonwold and Parkwood are next in line in Johannesburg for high-speed fibre broadband internet.
The suburbs join the city’s march to fibre connectivity as telecommunications company Vumatel says it has received the green light to roll out fast internet in the two areas.
The Saxonwold and Parkwood Residents Association (SAPRA) has chosen Vumatel to install a fibre to the home (FTTH) network in the area with the build starting in the third quarter of this year.
Vumatel plans to connect the first homes and businesses in the area by September this year. This means Vumatel’s fibre network covers Parkhurst, Greenside, Parktown North, Killarney and Riviera in Johannesburg.
“A stable high-speed broadband connection has become a sought after consideration for thousands, if not hundreds of thousands South Africans,” said chief executive officer of Vumatel Neil Schoeman in a statement.
Vumatel’s network is open access, meaning any internet service provider can sell offerings over the infrastructure.
The company also claims that a 20Mbps fibre connection on its open access network is comparable in cost to a 4Mbps connection and ISP connection on an existing ADSL copper cable network.
But it’s not just Vumatel who is rolling out fibre broadband in Johannesburg.
Telecoms player Telkom is connecting Houghton, Parktown and Westcliff with the technology. Mobile network MTN has also rolled out fibre broadband in suburbs such as Lonehill.
A company called Fibrehoods is also rolling out ‘aerial’ fibre networks across the city in suburbs such as Craighall, Craighall Park, Winston Ridge, Atholl, Inanda, Illovo, Elton Hill and Dunkeld.
Meanwhile, the City of Johannesburg is also building a 900km Johannesburg Broadband Network (JBN) at a cost of R3.4bn.
