Independent telco and fibre provider, OTEL Telecoms, has launched an easy visual guide mapping the location of 250 000 square kilometres of fibre optic cable within South Africa.
 
By visiting www.fibre2thehome.co.za, prospective high-speed broadband Internet customers can easily determine if their homes lie within one of the country’s growing tally of ‘fibrehoods’.
 
Over 100 000 homes are estimated to have access to high-speed broadband delivered by fibre optic underground cable. There are 14.5 million households in South Africa, according to the six year-old national Census.
 
To speed up the provision of fibre to residences, SMEs and corporates; OTEL adopts a blended approach of building its own fibre network while simultaneously accessing the fast-expanding networks of leading players such as OpenServe, Teralink, Vodacom, Sizwe Connect and others. The footprints of these players are all shown on OTEL’s Fibre2TheHome.co.za portal.
 
"Very fast broadband Internet via fibre can connect us to job and education opportunities that improve quality of life. It’s no wonder that South Africans want to live in fibrehoods," said Rad Jankovic, CEO of OTEL.
 
High-speed fibre optic broadband access is increasingly viewed as a basic amenity. While speed has traditionally been the number one reason to go the voice and data fibre route; the technology is also environmentally-friendly, not prone to cable theft, experiences low latencies, and is impervious to lightning strikes.
 
The integrated ICT player’s recently-launched fibre portal also indicates which specific estates and housing complexes already have access to fibre. This makes it easy for residents there to log-on to the website and select the most appropriate high-speed broadband plan for their needs.
 
"Fibre cuts the monthly costs of both home and business consumers because it provides voice and data services at a fraction of the cost of copper-based, fixed-line infrastructure," says Mr Jankovic.
 
OTEL can provide uncapped fibre Internet from as little as R599 per month. In addition, Otel's Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services delivered on top of its fibre links are 65% cheaper than fixed-line voice rates, no matter if one is calling international, national or mobile numbers.
 
OTEL is a well-known independent telecoms operator with a solid history of providing access to fibre-based Internet services in business parks and residential complexes across South Africa. It has been able to grow its reseller base in towns and cities around the country through a unique partnership model that enables resellers to set their own sales margins.

This creates annuity profit margins in excess of 50% on voice and data services, while still providing significant cost savings to clients.