Midrand suburbs to receive high-speed Internet later this year

Fibre-optic broadband connectivity service provider Metrofibre Networx has been awarded a contract to install fibre-optic cable in the Beaulieu, Heathcliff and Blue Hills estates, in Midrand, Johannesburg.

Residents in these estates will soon be able to enjoy the benefits of the superior Internet connectivity of fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) services.

Metrofibre will break ground at the end of February, with an expected completion date in April. About 60 residents in the area will have a choice between a combination of trenched fibre and aerial installations.

“We set ourselves a goal to become the preferred fibre provider for all the residents of the greater Kyalami area. By winning the contract to supply these three estates, we are now one step closer to achieving this goal,” states Metrofibre Networx business development Jacques de Villiers.

The company faced stiff competition during the tender process, as all known fibre suppliers submitted tenders for the contract, he says, adding that the estates appointed a panel of experts to investigate each offering, who then selected Metrofibre as it delivers symmetrical broadband speeds, as well as uncapped and unshaped Internet, at affordable rates.

Fibre sales during the project phase will be handled by fibre-optic connectivity provider Kiklo FTTx, an approved Metrofibre reseller, after which the site will become an open-access network; residents can then place their orders either with Metrofibre or with approved Metrofibre Internet service providers.

The aerial component of Metrofibre’s offering remains popular among residents, particularly with those in areas such as Kyalami, where large tracks of land are used for agriculture and trenching is not only invasive but also expensive. According to De Villiers, aerial installations cause little disruption to the existing environment.

“Metrofibre remains . . . competitively priced, compared with a host of other fibre suppliers in the market. We do not force caps on clients’ data, and offer capped and uncapped data packages. “The Metrofibre Voice-over-Internet Protocol offering is also one of the cheapest available on the market.”

This will enable residents of Beaulieu, Heathcliff and Blue Hills to take advantage of faster speeds when browsing the Internet, making phone calls, live-streaming television and music, and gaming online, De Villiers highlights.

Established in 2010, Metrofibre owns and manages South Africa’s first globally compliant Carrier Ethernet 2.0 open-access fibre network and connects more than 60 cloud, application, voice and Internet service providers with their customers. The company’s network has been built in line with the highest global standards, using only superior networking products and providing customers with a carrier- class open-access fibre network that offers ultrahigh speed and low-latency connections.