The Conduct Telecommunications CEO, Johan Pretorius, said that landlords who take the opportunity to have their premises connected with fibre, certainly gain a competitive advantage. "It is open access, which means any service provider may make use of the fibre. This not only helps drive down prices through competition, but also eliminates disruption to the premises by reducing the duplication of construction."
Pretorius said that there is no installation cost, nor is there any obligation for any occupant to use the fibre. "Broadband is an essential utility for any business premises. Once the fibre is deployed to the premises, the tenants may source the best broadband services directly from any service provider, whenever they choose so. Ultimately, it is this capability that adds value to the properties."
Conduct will build on risk in commercial areas in an effort to saturate each of the premises. This creates new potential clients for service providers who can now offer broadband services in areas that were previously not available to them.
"Connectivity and access to fast, affordable broadband is becoming a key requirement when choosing a business premises," said Pretorius.
An open-access network provides access to all service providers on similar terms and occupants are, therefore, free to choose the best service offerings by any service provider. Optical fibre offers as a medium almost limitless bandwidth capabilities, has excellent reliability and offers occupants the possibility of fast, world-class services.
Pretorius said that service providers utilise their open-access network to supply anywhere between 2Mbit/s and 1Gbit/s connections to businesses. "They have access to the fibre on equal terms; they now compete on quality, cost and type of services they offer and this gives end-users choice.
"The open-access model removes the prohibitive access build costs associated with providing fibre to the premises. The logical separation of infrastructure and services create capital efficiencies by effectively sharing the cost among service providers. This, ultimately, helps drive down the price," he concluded.
Conduct has already several hundred commercial premises in Joburg connected to fibre, in areas such as: Hyde Park, Rosebank, Chislehurston, Illovo, Sandton, Bryanston and Rivonia. New fibre roll-outs and expansions are also planned for: Bryanston, Parktown, Rivonia, Randburg, Rosebank, Sunninghill and Woodmead. Projects are also underway in Cape Town.
