Lightning speed for Paarl
2010-10-02
THEY came, they saw and they conquered. For the past six weeks this has been evident with construction workers who descended upon the streets of Paarl, digging up pavements and streets, and then filling them up again, in record speed. And all this has been done to bring Paarl up to world-class standard in telecommunication and internet operations. This project, which has covered almost 11km of network infrastructure for fibre optic cables, also known as digital highways, has been undertaken by Dark Fibre Africa (DFA). This company is the only one in South Africa which specialises in state-of-the-art secure ducting infrastructure for optic fibre cables. DFA is not a service provider, but installs various optic fibre channels below the surface which are then in turn rented out to licensed telecommunication service providers such as Vodacom, MTN, CellC, Neotel and Telkom. These companies then link up to the optic fibre cables via laser and receiver link-up. Ben Scheepers, Western Cape regional manager of DFA, said that the Paarl project had been completed in record time. “When we started in August in Lady Grey Street, we knew that this was the hub of the town and that after the Women’s Day long weekend, work here had to be completed. “We worked closely with the Drakenstein Municipality who also set deadlines for us, which we kept at all times. “The last bits of road surface which have to be repaired are in Cecilia Street, and this has been delayed because the ground was still too unsettled and wet to tar. “We are committed to imposing the least possible disruption in our operations, and can honestly say that this was also the case with the Paarl project.” Not only does optic fibre have the advantage of sending and receiving communication signals as quick as lightning, but one strand of cable can transmit 400 million cellphone signals. And with the crippling spate of copper cable theft, fibre optic cables is likely to be the communication tool of the future, as it has no value for theft. In years to come, when Telkom comes to the party, replacing copper with fibre optic, underground cables will then be run from the current digital highway by underground links to businesses and homes.
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