In May 2014, Parkhurst in Johannesburg took its broadband future into its own hands.<\/p>\n
The home owners association\u00a0announced that they\u00a0had put out a request for proposals for infrastructure providers to build a fibre network in the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n
Vumatel won the bid, and the first house in Parkhurst\u2019s fibre-to-the-home network went live in\u00a0October 2014.<\/p>\n
Other suburbs and residential estates copied\u00a0Parkhurst\u2019s idea and launched similar bidding processes for fibre infrastructure in their areas.<\/p>\n
While the formula for getting the interest of fibre providers seems straight-forward, executing it is often not that easy.<\/p>\n
To find out what home owners\u2019 associations and body corporates should do to ensure they attract the attention of network companies, we asked Vumatel for advice.<\/p>\n
Vumatel said it has launched an online portal<\/a><\/strong> that lets residents of suburbs it plans to target next express their interest in fibre broadband.<\/p>\n \u201cHere we have identified the neighbourhoods we are targeting in the short term and it tracks the relevant neighbourhood\u2019s progress relative to other suburbs,\u201d said Vumatel.<\/p>\n Vumatel is not the only company to launch a portal through which people can register their interest for FTTH. Other examples include:<\/p>\n Several websites have also been launched to gauge interest in fibre in specific regions.<\/p>\n For those who aren\u2019t on an infrastructure provider\u2019s short-term roadmap, the best bet is to survey their neighbourhood to establish how many residents are interested in fibre broadband and what they are willing to pay.<\/p>\n Typical questions include:<\/p>\n Results should be compiled into graphs and tables and included in the request for proposals that are sent to network infrastructure companies.<\/p>\n Vumatel said it is willing to offer assistance to suburbs which aren\u2019t included in its short-term plans.<\/p>\n \u201cThey can always contact us at\u00a0info@vumatel.co.za<\/strong>\u00a0to express their interest.\u201d<\/p>\n A version of this article first appeared on MyBroadband<\/strong> <\/a>and is republished with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n How soon fibre can overtake ADSL in South Africa<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n This is how South African ISPs choose which suburbs get FTTH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n
Organise, run a survey, and solicit companies for proposals<\/h3>\n
\n
\nMore on\u00a0FTTH in South Africa<\/h3>\n