As an international group and empowered South African company, GobeCast has
increasingly been involved with fibre for over a decade.
In 1999 almost 95% of GlobeCast’s broadcast traffic was handled via satellite and
only 5% on fibre. These numbers are now close to 50% satellite and 50% fibre. This
does not indicate a decrease in satellite usage, which has in fact doubled over that
period, but shows that fibre is now as commonplace as satellite.
GlobeCast has been building and expanding its GlobeCast Backbone Network (GCBN),
which is a DTM (dynamic synchronous transfer mode) network, for years with 92
000km of fibre reaching over 30 points of presence (PoP), including Nairobi and
Johannesburg.
In addition, on a South African level, GlobeCast has run a domestic fibre network
linked into a number of other networks including Dark Fibre, Neotel (the second
telecom network provider), BCX (ICT network service provider) and Vodacom (cellular
and network providers).
“We are connected to main international hubs such as Neotel and BCX through Teraco
Isando,’ explains GlobeCast’s Alan Hird. “Our fibre network is geared specifically for
broadcasters and we are connected to all major broadcasters and a lot of production
houses and agencies which include e.tv, SABC, MultiChoice, SuperSport, TopTV, Global
Access, Reuters, BCX, CNBC Africa, Red Pepper, and all the foreign media based in
South Africa. We also have the advantage of our DS3 links to Cape Town.’
Hird points out that another major advantage for GlobeCast is its fully redundant links
with Europe that run up both coasts of Africa.
“These link in with the GlobeCast international fibre network so we can literally
connect our South African clients to more than 25 major cities around the world at the
click of a mouse. We also have a fibre link at our Nairobi office that offers
connectivity to Europe.’
GlobeCast is also in the process of rolling out services to other African countries
including Zimbabwe, Nigeria and Zambia, using Nimbra technology which is also used
by the top broadcasters. All GlobeCast services are fully redundant and all its rings
self-mending.
“Fibre traffic is growing rapidly,’ continues Hird, “and new installations include
services to Cape Town, London and Spain as well as within Johannesburg. We offer
services to our broadcaster clients from London to South Africa and back, however we
have both permanent and ad hoc traffic running between all broadcasters and many
production houses. We have about 26 full time channels passing through our network
each day.’
New installations include a link from Spain to Johannesburg for a new TV channel,
international links for two South African broadcasters from London to Johannesburg
and vice versa, and a domestic contribution video and a data link for Global Access.
“South Africa doesn’t have the same sort of roll out as many northern hemisphere
regions in terms of volume,’ concludes Hird, “but we are growing quickly and we
certainly have the technical know-how and ability.’
