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Can you imagine a world where every power socket in your home or office is a broadband communications point without the need for separate cabling? Even as powerline communication still struggles to gain credibility, it is now commercially viable. iWeek speaks to the experts. THE MOST talked-about, and possibly the most difficult link in providing broadband communications services is the `last mile`.

The last mile generally refers to the last stretch of connectivity between service provider and the customer, and it is possibly also the most expensive, time-consuming and labour-intensive undertaking to establish.

To reach the customer, a blend of technologies can be used, such as fibre, copper and wireless technologies. The one we`re concerned with is powerline communication (PLC), or broadband over powerline (BPL), a communications technology that converts the existing electricity grid into a network for high-speed data, voice and media transfer over existing powerlines instead of telephone or cable TV lines.

A powerline can transport from 6 Mbps to 200 Mbps of data, and as no additional cabling is required, PLC is a compelling offering to new housing communities or office developments, as well as a retrofit sell into existing buildings.

A big advantage compared to ADSL is that the infrastructure is already in (almost) every home or office, it`s easy to deploy without chopping up roads, gardens and driveways, and it does not require high-level technicians to install or maintain it.

TECHNOLOGY REFRESH

While the technology has been around since the 1960s and experiments in narrowband communication have been going since the widespread distribution of power supply in the 1920`s, Adrian Maguire, CEO at Goal Technology Solutions (GTS), says it has only become commercially viable in 2005, since a technology refresh to a 45 megabit design.

"Traditionally, there were two fundamental flaws with PLC. One was frequency emissions, infuriating amateur radio enthusiasts, and the fact that it was not reliable for commercial use. The turning point was really in 2003 when a new generation of architecture and design was introduced, which gave us a reliable network that notches out amateur radio frequency bands," says Maguire.

Currently, powerline technology is supported by South African Convergence Bill regulations, and GTS is an approved systems integrator and value-added reseller for Mitsubishi`s powerline communications. Mitsubishi developed its own high-performance PLC solution using the 200 Mbps chipsets supplied by Ds2.

"Ds2 makes it commercially viable to deliver over 5Mbps to each home in a community. The level of bandwidth allows not only voice over Internet protocol and fast Internet connectivity, but also high-quality television and video streaming. [It is] essentially an open system that can be tailored to client needs or community needs," says Maguire.

ROOIWAL MEANS WE`RE READY

Maguire says municipalities are currently losing millions in revenue due to the theft and wastage of water and electricity. PLC, apart from its other sterling qualities, enables recovery of this loss. A real-time automated meter reading function constantly monitors the network to detect imbalances, and according to him, remote access to the meter will enable a 15-30% increased recovery in lost revenue.

According to Maguire, PLC in South Africa is emerging at the same rate as first world countries. Locally, the Rooiwal community near Pretoria and two municipalities in Durban are considered successful implementations. In Africa, Uganda and Rwanda GTS have also successfully deployed PLC.

The Tshwane Metro switched on the Rooiwal area, just outside Pretoria, at the end of January this year as a pilot site, with more than 130 homes connected on the PLC network as part of its investigation into frequency interference. The homes are all connected with a fully-fledged VOIP installation.

Charles Kuun, manager: Tshwane Global Digital Hub, says he is a satisfied GTS customer with the implementation of the PLC network at Rooiwal and that the technology is ready for widespread deployment. "There is a sense of expectation in the market about the possibilities of this technology. Connectivity is becoming a human right, alongside water and electricity," says Kuun.

Rooiwal connects to the Internet via through a point of presence (POP) in the City of Tshwane network operating centre, with the municipality`s fibre optic line. Kuun says the dream is to have an ISP that is not connected via Telkom, to be able to connect via another infrastructure, to prove there is another way of doing telecoms. He maintains that the municipality is not a service provider and won`t become an ISP or operator yet.

TRUE BROADBAND

"The world that we are going to is the broadband world where triple play is the standard. South Africa does not have [a true] broadband offering except the offering at Rooiwal, with 4Mbps - 6 Mbps throughput, which is fully operational."

Kuun says the BPL offering at Rooiwal has changed the community forever. "Some residents, who have never been exposed to the technology, are now addicted to the community`s online gaming initiative," he says.

Kuun believes that the installation at Rooiwal will contain its telecoms costs. "We proved that our network can become part of the world wide trend - open access networks by municipalities," says Kuun.

According to Wikipedia.org, OAN refers to a horizontally layered network architecture and business model that separates physical access to the network from service provisioning. The same OAN will be used by a number of different providers that share the investments and maintenance cost.

"It`s a phenomenon, it`s something that is going to bring about a change in telecoms," concludes Kuun.

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