South African wholesale broadband provider Internet Solutions (IS) has revealed plans to roll out fibre-optic networks to 50 business parks in Gauteng by the end of the year, with Cape Town and Durban to follow by mid-2015. According to TechCentral, the fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) infrastructure will deliver ultra-fast broadband services to business parks and retail sites, with maximum download speeds of up to 1Gbps promised. Initially, IS aims to deploy the network to Kent Avenue and Oak Avenue in Randburg, Peter Place in Bryanston, Wierda Road in Sandton and the East Rand Mall by end-2014, with Westlake Office Park in Cape Town to follow.
IS claims that FTTB access will be offered on a month-by-month basis; a 2Mbps connection will be priced at ZAR749 (USD70.1) per month, while a 100Mbps access will cost ZAR8,799 per month. Greg Montjoie, carrier and connectivity solutions executive at IS, said: ‘Historically, one of the issues with fibre installations in South Africa has been the high setup costs associated with deploying fibre services’; the company however has pledged to cap its setup fee at ZAR999.