Atron CEO, Mr Robert Venter
By: Edzani Nephalela
Hammanskraal is amongst the 263 sites across Gauteng that will receive fibre broadband connectivity by end of 2015.
The company responsible for the connection, Altech Alcom Matomo highlighted that the connection will be located at provincial department buildings and several townships. Hammanskraal will be among the chosen townships alongside Soweto, Tembisa, and Diepsloot that will be connected by the end of 2015.
The project will be built and operated by the Altron TMT unit before being handed over to the Gauteng government on completion, which is set for about three-and-a-half years from now.
The Gauteng Provincial Government has said the public would be able to access free internet from these points. With a lot of townships schools becoming paperless, it has now gone down to townships as a whole to be connected. “The broader digital strategy of the Gauteng Provincial Government as the eight core nodes will connect various network touchpoints that will begin servicing government buildings and community,” said Atron CEO, Mr Robert Venter.
In total, the network will offer broadband fibre internet access to the province’s 316 government-owned buildings, 45 Thusong centres, nine economic development zones (malls, business hubs and such) and 20 priority townships among other access points. It will provide connectivity to 95% of the province’s residents.
The network will provide a 10 gigabytes per second core network for connectivity and will introduce upgradable high-speed fibre-optic transmission speeds for Gauteng provincial buildings, schools and community centres to access the network.
Altron TMT notes the accelerated connectivity will allow the provincial government to implement its smart provincial initiatives and facilitate ancillary projects such as telemedicine, e-learning, e-government and e-health, among others.
Altech Alcom Matomo MD Mr Brett Nash says the province-wide network consists of 4 500km of transmission fibre and 80km of last mile fibre network running throughout Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Sedibeng and the West Rand.
Mr Nash adds that the network will also allow the Gauteng Provincial Government to save R162 million each year on connectivity costs.
Altron TMT is a junior of JSE-listed Altron and was previously known as Altech before Altron paid R1.8 billion to buys out Altech minorities in a 2013 deal. This acquisition was followed by Altron streamlining its operation and bundling parts of Altech and Bytes Technology together.
