More South Africans are moving to smaller ‘zoom towns’ along the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal coastlines – a change that is being reflected in faster internet speeds, says the Wireless Access Providers Association (WAPA).<\/p>\n
While semigrating residents can expect to pay lower levies than in major cities such as Johannesburg and Cape Town, remote-working has historically been hindered by a lack of internet connectivity, the group said.<\/p>\n
“Fibre is often touted as the holy grail of connectivity,” said Paul Colmer, executive committee member of WAPA.\u00a0 “Don\u2019t get me wrong. It\u2019s very good, when it\u2019s available, and when the service hasn\u2019t been interrupted by someone digging up the cable.<\/p>\n
“But it\u2019s not the only way to get reliable, high-speed internet to properly support remote work and, quite frankly, it just isn\u2019t available in a lot of places and takes a lot of time and effort to get there,” he said.<\/p>\n
Colmer, who lives in a small town along South Africa\u2019s Wild Coast, noted that residents of smaller towns often complain that the big providers don\u2019t want their business enough to give them fixed LTE, cellular data coverage can be patchy and is the most expensive way to connect in South Africa.<\/p>\n
More satellite options are coming online for consumer services but can also be costly, he said.<\/p>\n
“What a lot of our members and other service providers are doing now is bringing fibre to a high site in, or near, the town. They use the tower to broadcast high-speed wireless broadband to connect everyone who wants it.<\/p>\n
“They either throw a wireless ‘blanket’ over the area, just like your router at home but on a much bigger and more powerful scale, and anyone can connect to it. Or they shoot a high-powered wireless beam at your dish so you get safe, secure, broadband Internet. The fibre then connects the tower to the rest of the country.”<\/p>\n
Benefits\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n This approach is rapidly gaining popularity because it leverages the strengths of fibre and the strengths of wireless, combining the two into a powerful broadband service that\u2019s faster, cheaper, and more reliable. Particularly for people in out-of-the-way places that have been neglected until now, Colmer said.<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t require contractors to trench all over town. There\u2019s no risk of digging up and ruining pavements, roads, water pipes, and other infrastructure such as electricity cables.<\/p>\n “The business model makes sense,\u201d said the chief executive of a regional service provider in Ladysmith who wishes to remain anonymous.<\/p>\n “Rather than having a swarm of fibre providers all competing with each other, their contractors digging over one another\u2019s and the town\u2019s infrastructure, you get a positive outcome that\u2019s good for everyone. Towns attract new ratepayers, people can get connectivity for entertainment and work, and service providers get new customers, even the fibre providers. It\u2019s a win-win-win. What could be better?”<\/p>\n Hotspots for these new developments include smaller coastal towns in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal but the model is catching on in many other areas.<\/p>\n Anyone can find one of these providers by using the Find a Provider search tool on WAPA\u2019s website, which is a non-profit industry association here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n
\n