CORPORATE PROFILE Page 37 practically unlimited bandwidth”. That from the Constitutional Court, no less.
Letting Link Africa loose in the sewers has an added benefit for municipalities, because the first step is surveying the piping with remotely operated video cameras. These produce“ dirty movies” that soon reveal any structural defects, which can then be addressed by the municipalities before they cause a breakdown in the sewerage system.
This is also important for developers, HOAs and members of residential communities, who are understandably concerned about the impact on their environment of laying yet another set of cables. And given the economic pressure to maximise land usage density, the space in the utility servitude for services is getting increasingly overcrowded. So it seems almost silly not to use existing channels where one can.
Link Africa is not an Internet service provider( ISP), and is committed to open access. The cabling they lay is“ dark”, which means it’ s not yet connected to the Internet – it’ s just an open channel. They don’ t charge the municipalities( or anyone else) for laying the cable, but obtain their revenue from renting it out to ISPs.
The number of competing ISPs has increased dramatically, with each offering different benefits, and appealing to different users – so a careful choice of options is imperative. Some ISPs, however, enter into exclusive arrangements with a collective or corporate user, such as an office block or housing estate community, or even a suburb. Although it’ s theoretically never too late to make a change, there will be increasing, and possibly debilitating, costs attached to making changes if flexibility isn’ t built in at ground level – that is, at the planning stage of a development. Open access gives the customer the freedom to exercise their choice – now, and at a later stage, if and when new options become available.
However, open access isn’ t popular with everyone in the supply chain, as it encourages open competition with less opportunity for exploitative profits. Link Africa is working with the FTTH Council to put in place standards and ethical practices that help protect the customer, and Link Africa is intensely involved in ensuring that those standards benefit the end user, who often has the weakest voice.
André Hoffmann, Link Africa’ s head of projects, is passionate about doing all that can be done to make fibre accessible to everyone, and is committed to bridging the digital divide.“ We’ re going to take fibre into the townships, and we’ re going to make a difference,” he says.
With its significant involvement in the FTTH Council Africa, underpinned by a commitment to open access, Link Africa is a dark fibre provider whose vision is to illuminate South Africa with the liberating light of fibre optics. Remember how the mobile phone started out as a toy of the wealthy, but is now a communication device for the masses? Fibre, with its limitless capacity, will become the gateway for millions to benefit from the endless possibilities of the Internet.
Link Africa is well positioned to be the enabler of the future in your development. link africa
CONTACT: + 27 10 020 0410 info @ linkafrica. co. za www. linkafrica. co. za