Estate Living Digital Publication Issue 11 November 2015 | Page 63

How do you negotiate environmental issues, such
as distance between residence, environmentally
sensitive areas or Estates in outlying areas?
FTTH is intrinsically an environmentally friendly
technology as it uses only a fraction of the electricity used
by traditional DSL technologies. The distance required
to connect a home up to the equipment will impact the
business case for some estates, as will the distance of the
estate to the nearest point at which it can be connected
up to a network, that can connect the estate, to other
cities and/or Internet sites in other countries.
There are a variety of ways of connecting up buildings
with varying degrees of disruption. Where underground
ducts exist, these can be used to pull fibre cables
through to a home. In new build estates, these ducts
should be put in place during the build phase, as they
are very inexpensive at that point. In existing estates,
where there are no ducts, the choice will be between
digging and using aerial cabling. This will be influenced
by views on the estate and should be understood
before committing to deployment. With no risks
regarding posts in the estate in terms of electromagnetic
emissions, as these are simple physical poles that cables
are slung from. The cables contain optical fibre, which
has light transmitted through it to connect up homes.
There is no electrical component in the cables and no
transmission equipment in the poles. States Zamaqadi
Mqadi Business Development Manager at ATC South
Africa.
The wireless equipment that we use is regulated and
approved by ICASA. Strict transmit power rules ensure
that the equipment we use is perfectly safe. Adds James
Wilkinson from Sonic Wireless. Is there any obligation
for the Home Owners Association to drive subscription
or contacts? There is no obligation on the HOA to drive
subscription however it does make areas more attractive.
This may result in a specific area improving its feasibility
ranking. It is important to remember that FTTH is a very
expensive product and that it is monetised over the
amount of ‘takers’ as we refer to it. Where your uptake
is higher the area naturally becomes more attractive.

Consider it in the following way… no one is going to build
an extensive national road to service a single household
situated in the outskirts of a town. The same can be said
for FTTH.
The more people that commit to using it the more
financially feasible it becomes. Operators are willing
to make the initial investment and wait for the ROI,
however, they still need to achieve a ROI over a specific
amount of time or areas are simply not feasible. Here
uptake is everything. Working with the HOA to educate
on the benefits of FTTH for communities, and for the
residents will encourage uptake. Some areas have town
hall meetings; appoint street champions to go from
house to house. They contact us for collateral to help
them educate on FTTH and what it means. We are
always willing to support any community that is looking
to deploy FTTH.” “I can be contacted on Juanita@
ftthcouncilafrica.com” adds Juanita.
There are so many different players in the industry, who
are the main players and how are they connected i.e.
Service providers/ project managers/ tower sharing?
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FTTH is a relatively new industry and competition is
extensive. All the major telecommunications companies
are actively participating in the industry and there are
several new entrants coming on board. This is good
for the industry as it stimulates competition. There
are examples of co-location and infrastructure sharing
however to date this has mainly been applicable to
backhaul networks. Project Managers are offering free
installation as a value add, however based on licensing
duty of the service provider to increase coverage,
would the installation not be free regardless. So what
are we getting for ‘Free’? The concern of simply going
for the cheapest option is that the estate will not get
the benefits seen by other estates and instead may get
a poor deployment with limited choice (e.g. just one
operator offering services) or something that never
works satisfactorily. It is vital to have an experienced
provider with proven track record. Comments Zamaqadi
Mqadi
What are the costs to the Homeowners Association
(HOA), what are the costs to the homeowner? AND
what are the potential “hidden” costs and running
costs to the HOA?

SMART LIVING

staggering speeds. Increase in property values are only
realised on true FTTH networks.” Explains Juanita Clark,
CEO FTTH Council Africa.