Straight into Benoni

No, it’s not another movie, but instead is Dark Fibre announcing that it is deploying a fibre optic infrastructure in and around Benoni, costing more than R75-million.

Dark Fibre Africa (DFA) has announced it is deploying a fibre infrastructure at a cost of more than R75-million in and around the Benoni metropolitan area. In cooperation with Benoni Municipality, this project is intended not only to launch the city into the digital age, but also to bring significant investment into the area.

DFA has evolved into the largest open access fibre infrastructure provider in Southern Africa with an expenditure plan of around R3.5-billion countrywide.

The socio-economic benefits of fibre optic networks are vast, affordable broadband contributes to increased economic activity. Expansion of communications infrastructure brings about new business opportunities that are dependent on broadband like ISPs, Internet Cafes and banking services.

Open Access broadband also stimulates competition within the telecommunications market, ultimately reducing Internet costs. Furthermore, the competitive advantage and productivity gains of broadband are enormous. Municipalities are able to provide electronic services, education levels improve with access to information and communities have access to eHealth and eLearning.

Dark Fibre Africa CEO Gustav Smit says they merely provide the open fibre infrastructure. ‚This enables licensed operators like Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and ISPs like Internet Solutions and MWEB to give communities easier access to the network at much greater speeds.

Smit has called on ISPs to play a leading role in mobilising communities. ‚End users simply don’t know what 20Mbps or 100Mbps to the home means. An opportunity needs to be created for users to test drive serious broadband. DFA is here to provide a long term sustainable solution to the local community.‚

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