The race is on

About 180 private sector company representatives (from telecoms and IT firms big and small) filed into a high-level compulsory industry briefing in Riviera, Johannesburg, recently.

The meeting was designed to give interested parties absolute clarity on the project, as potential bidders darted questions at an impressively well-organised project steering committee.

The proposals, demonstrations and tendering processes are sure to evoke heated competition in the industry. Nobody dared to be absent for the briefing. It is simply too huge an opportunity to miss: the contract for a 1 644 square kilometre broadband coverage solution.

Officially named `The city of Johannesburg Broadband Network Project`, the initiative involves the city partnering with one service provider, which must provide high-speed Internet to Johannesburg`s official population of over three million citizens, according to the city`s Douglas Cohen.

As a project consultant for the ICT sector support at the city`s Department of Economic Development, Cohen is a central figure in the project. His confidence in the process inspires confidence among others. He has stated that the project could require a total investment of upwards of half-a-billion rand - carried between the winning service provider and the city.

Multitude of services

The service should offer anyone in Johannesburg access to the World Wide Web, VOIP telephony, television and radio over IP, video-on-demand, e-government services, free Internet zones and virtual private networks, according to the gregarious Jabu Zimu, programme manager at the city`s office of the CIO.

Aside from these benefits, Zimu says the network will cater for the city`s surveillance needs, help with traffic management, provide the backbone for commercial display systems, assist local government mobile workers, and bring the city in line with 2010`s technology requirements.

The city is not prescriptive about what technology is to be used by the successful bidder. "It could be WiFi, WiMAX, fibre or powerline broadband," Zimu told the briefing`s attendees, adding: "but it must be true broadband - we`re talking about speeds of over 2Mbps."

"It has to be future-proof and scalable. We don`t want to have to forklift the solution after five years," he emphasised.

This `technological freedom` is important, comments Neil Emerick, respected industry commentator and council member of the Free Market Foundation.

"Vendors should be able to bring the technology they wish," he tells iWeek, adding, "it would be good to see a series of experiments running in the city - it is the duty of government to experiment with different [broadband] technologies."

And this is exactly what the city says will happen. After an initial evaluation process, a preliminary short-list will be drawn up. Those bidders (Cohen predicts 10 to 20 businesses) will then each be allocated about one square kilometre of the city to deploy a demonstration network.

The deadline for interested parties to submit business and technical proposals is 30 March. The steering committee will conduct a thorough evaluation of all the submissions during the month of April. Then the demo networks can be built (see the fact box: "How the bids will be evaluated").

A representative from a well-known telecommunications company - who wishes not to be identified, but was present at the briefing - commented that "the demonstration network required by the city is sophisticated and complex, and will leave a number of respondents thinking twice about whether or not they can afford to build it."

Choosing the right technology

Joburg City is not concerned with how the successful bidder will organise themselves and arrange for the investment costs - it does not mind how consortiums are formed, for instance.

However, Zimu makes it clear that the winner must roll out networks throughout Johannesburg`s seven regions in a balanced and phased manner, and that the coverage must be seamless and easy to maintain.

MarketWorks business and technology advisor, Craig Terblanche, who attended the briefing, believes the project is in good hands. "It looks like the city has got their act together - they have some serious intentions to do something substantial and sustainable," he says.

He does - however - question why the initiative is not being regarded as a public-private partnership (PPP), as he is not sure that the Municipal Finance Act covers the scope of the project.

If it was to be regarded as a PPP, it would require National Treasury involvement, he points out, but adds that further research may need to be done on this point.

Terblanche is of the opinion that different technologies may well be used in tandem. Powerline broadband has the advantage of being able to run over existing city-owned infrastructure (which Zimu confirms will be available to the winning company).

However, wireless solutions have flexibility in terms of access. The user could be literally anywhere in Joburg and its surrounds and connect.

Zimu agrees this scenario of complementary methods is possible, saying that wireline, powerline and wireless all "seek to meet and fulfil the same need for broadband connectivity."

"With powerline broadband, don`t forget that you can have nomadic connectivity. You can plug in and access the Internet from wherever," he says.

Marching ahead

Emerick believes that one of the most valuable potential outcomes of the broadband project will be better communication with government.

He also points out that the project is a bold step on the part of the Johannesburg City Council, in the face of spectrum allocation ambiguity from the regulator.

"What`s particularly exciting to see is local governments marching ahead with things like wireless networks - where-as the private sector is playing ball and waiting for clear spectrum allocation from ICASA." One industry player noted on the sidelines of the briefing that the City of Joburg has indicated it would invest about R100 million, and the successful service provider must invest roughly R400 million - which supports Cohen`s estimates. The returns on this investment could be enormous.

The Johannesburg City borders encompass 1 644 square kilometres - home to 3.2 million people (in over one million households) at the last census count in 2001. This means there is an average density of almost 2 000 people per square kilometre.

Another representative from a well-known telecommunications company - who wishes not to be identified, but was present at the briefing - says "the demonstration network required by the city is sophisticated and complex, and will leave a number of respondents thinking twice about whether or not they can afford to build it."

Currently, the city offers a limited wireless solution to about 300 businesses with reasonable speed connections, notes Zimu. This broadband network is a whole new ball game - and, like any exciting contest, it is sure to have interested parties watching it every step of the way.