The Blackheath Industrial area has been abuzz with infrastructure upgrades over the last two months. From repairs and maintenance to new infrastructure and especially the roll out of fibre through the Blackheath Node.
With all of the Telkom issues we have experienced with cable theft and the general unreliability of the service for a range of reasons, many users are looking elsewhere and are especially looking for a stable and reliable telephony solution that is linked to an equally reliable and fast internet connection.
Modern technology requires much higher download speeds and local businesses are in the market for high speed fibre and wireless solutions.
At the Blackheath CID's Annual General Meeting, those present tasked us with investigating the available infrastructure and service providers in the market and I would like to report back as follows:
▪ Dark Fibre Africa has and is currently rolling out fibre infrastructure through and within the Blackheath Industrial Area.
▪ Last mile installations are available from a host of service providers. It is preferable not to support one Internet Service Provider (ISP) or Fibre Solutions Company (FSC) to ensure that there is competition in the market place. This ensures competitive pricing and higher levels of service.
▪ Infrastructure then remains open access and this ensures that the end users who are the businesses operating in the Blackheath Industrial node have options and are able to select their service providers, based on merit and performance, and not be tied to one supplier.
▪ This means that no ISP or FSC may own the "last mile" infrastructure. This is the link between the "main fibre infrastructure vein" and your business. Any supplier that you choose will then be able to use that "last mile" infrastructure after it is installed.
▪ The more orders or service requests that are generated from the local area, the more major infrastructure suppliers, like Dark Fibre Africa and Link Africa will be approached by the ISP's and FSC's and the quicker fibre will be rolled out within Blackheath.
▪ Telkom has no immediate plan to roll out fibre in Blackheath, although we have impressed on them to prioritise the area for those users who are committed to the brand.
You are welcome to contact me at bcid@kingsley.co.za or on 021 905 0929 to discuss the options with me if you are feeling daunted by the prospect of shopping for this new technology.
