Vodacom Business announced the launch of its fibre-to-the-business (FTTB) services in South Africa in a press release issued on Wednesday, 17 September 2014.<\/p>\n
The initial rollout phase of Vodacom\u2019s new Broadband Connect Fibre service will see fibre connectivity of up to 100 Megabits per second (Mbps) coming to selected business parks in Gauteng, Cape Town, and Durban.<\/p>\n
Vodacom said that its new service means that businesses of all sizes that operate out of business parks will have access to high-speed and high-capacity data connections.<\/p>\n
Broadband Connect Fibre uses the latest Passive Optical Network (PON) technology and will give businesses access to online services that were previously only available to large corporate customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese services include video collaboration, voice over internet protocol (VoIP), Hosted PBX, Office365, Cloud Backup, and other data applications,\u201d Vodacom said.<\/p>\n
Vodacom said that, since 2008, it has spent more than R2-billion investing in fibre transmission which connects its 10,000+ cellular base stations, which now forms the backbone of this new FTTB service.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost people don\u2019t realise it, but underneath every mobile network is a high-speed fixed network connecting the base stations,\u201d said Vuyani Jarana, head of Vodacom Business.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve invested billions of rands in building our fibre optic network, meaning that we now have the critical mass to offer customers across South Africa access to the latest technology, including FTTB.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vodacom Business\u2019s Broadband Connect Fibre service provides SMEs with bundled uncapped Internet access, a router, and optional fixed-line VoIP which the operator said delivers as much as 30% savings on phone calls.<\/p>\n
Rapid deployment, including the connecting and upgrading of fibre cables is part of the service, and all installation costs are covered by Vodacom.<\/p>\n
The monthly prices of the various uncapped packages available on Vodacom\u2019s FTTB offering are summarised in the table below.<\/p>\n
| Service Plan<\/td>\n | Downstream<\/td>\n | Upstream<\/td>\n | Monthly charge (VAT incl.)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| BBC Fibre 5Mbps<\/td>\n | 5Mbps<\/td>\n | 2.5Mbps<\/td>\n | R2,599<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| BBC Fibre 8Mbps<\/td>\n | 8Mbps<\/td>\n | 4Mbps<\/td>\n | R3,099<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| BBC Fibre 10Mbps<\/td>\n | 10Mbps<\/td>\n | 5Mbps<\/td>\n | R3,499<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| BBC Fibre 15Mbps<\/td>\n | 15Mbps<\/td>\n | 7.5Mbps<\/td>\n | R4,700<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| BBC Fibre 20Mbps<\/td>\n | 20Mbps<\/td>\n | 10Mbps<\/td>\n | R5,899<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| BBC Fibre 30Mbps<\/td>\n | 30Mbps<\/td>\n | 15Mbps<\/td>\n | R6,999<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| BBC Fibre 40Mbps<\/td>\n | 40Mbps<\/td>\n | 20Mbps<\/td>\n | R7,999<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| BBC Fibre 50Mbps<\/td>\n | 50Mbps<\/td>\n | 25Mbps<\/td>\n | R9,999<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| BBC Fibre 100Mbps<\/td>\n | 100Mbps<\/td>\n | 50Mbps<\/td>\n | R16,999<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n |
| The set-up fee of R899 is waived during the launch phase of Broadband Connect Fibre until 31 March 2015.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | |||
NB: Broadband Connect Fibre has a fair usage policy.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tfoot>\n<\/table><\/div>\nFuture plans<\/h3>\nVodacom said that an important part of its future roll-out plan is that it will be offering customers the option of installing additional equipment in their premises to, in effect, set up a dedicated mini mobile base station.<\/p>\n This equipment, which uses the fibre connection to route cellphone traffic back into the network, will give the best possible mobile signal and eliminate any troublesome coverage spots in the office, Vodacom said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re particularly excited about our acquisition of Neotel and what this will mean for the speed at which we can rollout broadband services,\u201d Jarana added.<\/p>\n \u201cIf given regulatory approval, we\u2019ll be able to add Neotel\u2019s 22,000 km of fibre to our existing network and then fast-track the provision of high-speed connectivity not only for businesses but also for homes across South Africa,\u201d said Jarana.<\/p>\n More on Vodacom<\/h3>\nVodacom trialling tap and pay<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Vodacom to spend R1 billion on Gauteng network<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Vodacom in streaming talks with Spotify: report<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n |