Cheaper internet for Alex residents

Residents of Alexandra may soon be able to enjoy uncapped 100Mbit/s fibre for only R89 per month.

According to an article on technology website, TechCentral, this is part of a pilot project by Vumatel that will deploy fibre for every township household in the country; starting with Alex.

“If the deployment is a success Vumatel is planning on rolling out fibre to Diepsloot, with Soweto and Tembisa also high on the priority list,” the article stated.

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The fibre will be in the form of an aerial strung along poles and a contention ratio of 20:1 will apply.

Vumatel chief executive officer, Neil Schoeman said the experience will not be any different from that of more affluent suburbs.

The company also plans to build Wi-Fi hotspots in the township’s public areas through corporate social investment funding from Investec.

“It will offer free 1Gbit/s internet to schools in the townships in return for those schools hosting its network gear.”

The service will be cost-effective to mobile users who use between R60 and R90 per month on data bundles.

“Now suddenly you can get away with just buying a R12 WhatsApp data bundle and consuming your data at home,” Schoeman concluded.

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According to the company’s estimates, fibre will be deployed to about 60 000 dwellings in Alex.

The project is expected to start by October or November.

Edited by Stacey Woensdregt

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