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Cape Town - Residents of Lonehill will soon have the opportunity to experience fast internet after an agreement between the Lonehill Residents Association (LRA) and MTN.
The mobile operator will deliver fibre to the home (FTTH) to around 3 000 homes in the northern suburb of Johannesburg.
"Fibre to the home will transform how we work and play. This fibre network will ensure that businesses can improve their efficiency and optimally use technologies such as video conferencing," said John Siddall, chair of the LRA.
The service is expected to deliver speeds of 100mbps and the first phase of the project commences on Thursday with 133 homes and businesses being connected to the MTN fibre network.
"In the new digital world, our customers want access to streaming high definition video and music, online gaming at zero lag, and other data intensive applications from the comfort of their living room," said Larry Annetts, chief marketing officer at MTN South Africa.
Pricing options
Residents have a few pricing options from which to choose for access to the network.
Pricing starts at R794 per month contract which includes installation and devices as well as 20GB of data at 20mbps. That goes up to R1 389 for 100GB on a 100mbps.
There is also a 'no contract option' that costs R3 000 once-off, followed by monthly payments of R669 for a 20mbps line.
A number of players have entered the market for fibre broadband in SA, where the main challenge has been cost.
Online gaming demands a fast broadband connection. (Duncan Alfreds, Fin24)
But the thinking that fibre broadband is an expensive luxury item may be short-sighted.
"It is important to note that there is, in fact, an oversupply of international bandwidth available in South Africa, and that the national grid is now well developed in terms of inter-city connectivity between the major metropolitan areas such as Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban," Edward Lawrence, director of Business Development at Workonline Communications told Fin24.
The wholesaler has partnered with 123Net in KwaZulu-Natal to offer broadband services starting at just R3 600 as a once-off payment or in equal 12 monthly instalments.
It is likely that the excess capacity of submarine fibre cables will eventually reduce the cost of broadband access in SA if so-called last mile connections to homes and businesses are successful.
National broadband policy
High speed internet services facilitate streaming of rich content like TV and gaming, and international availability has already changed consumption patterns.
The Ericsson Consumer Lab reported that 2014 saw a marked change in consumer behaviour. More people watched streaming television than broadcast TV for the first time in the markets studied.
"Drivers for this change include the advent of 4G technology, the growth in smartphone and tablet usage, and a shift in consumer behaviour toward easy-to-use, on-demand services that offer cross-platform access to content," said the report which focused on the US, South Korea and Spain.
Political dithering on the implementation of national broadband policy has seen some areas take control in rolling out broadband services in neighbourhoods.
Constantia in the Western Cape is currently engaged in a fibre broadband roll-out and the suburb has called for supplier proposals to deliver the service.
MTN hinted that - like rivals in the broadband space - it was eyeing national roll-out for high-speed internet services.
"MTN owns fibre in all major metros in South Africa and has extensive capacity in the undersea cables on both the east and west coasts of Africa. As such, we can provide our customers with a truly high value fibre network that meets their connectivity requirements for the digital world," said Eben Albertyn, chief technology officer at MTN South Africa.
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