The Western Cape Government, State Information Technology Agency (SITA)
and Neotel have signed an agreement which will see the roll out of broadband
at more than 2 000 government sites across the Western Cape, over the next
two to three years.
The initiative is derived from the Cape Provincial Government’s vision to have all
areas benefit from broadband in their daily lives. The services, resources and
capability of each party will be leveraged to provide broadband services across
the province, in a true public-private partnership.
Sunil Joshi MD and CEO of Neotel says, “Neotel is delighted and humbled to be
chosen by Western Cape Government and SITA to deploy fibre optic
infrastructure across the Province for the provision of broadband and voice
services to Government departments and also make available these services to
communities, businesses and households to create a connected Province. The
Western Cape Government is focused on realizing its vision for the Western
Cape and Neotel is extremely pleased to play the role of a partner to make the
vision a reality.’
By April 2015 the project aims to have 982 sites connected with speeds of
10Mbps and by August 2018, most sites will be connected with fibre and
upgraded to 100Mbps speeds, with 10% receiving speeds of 1Gbps and above.
Neotel will also be providing businesses with the latest voice and data
technology in an aim to increase network reliability and optimise maintenance
costs. Solutions include upgrading traditional PABX platforms to Neotel’s latest
Hosted PBX platform. In addition it will offer leading voice, broadband, VPN and
other innovative communication services to businesses, government
departments, institutions and households, thereby developing the communities,
and increasing enterprise development. This will mean entrepreneurs are
exposed to new growth opportunities and will be able to develop sustainable
skills.
“We also expect many large, medium and small businesses, and other
government departments to benefit from the infrastructure and connectivity as it
is rolled out for their broadband, voice, data centre and VPN requirements,’
adds Joshi.
During the project, Neotel has partnered with the Department of Economic
Development and Tourism to provide local communities with free Wi-Fi services.
