Fibre internet operators accused of corruption involving municipalities

Bruce Whitfield gets the lowdown from Jan Vermeulen, editor of MyBroadband.

An industry body for South Africa's wireless internet providers has accused some fiber operators and 'corrupt' municipalities of crushing affordable connectivity in the country.

There is anecdotal evidence suggesting that these providers manipulate municipal wayleave processes to their advantage, says a statement from the Wireless Access Providers Association (WAPA).

A wayleave in this case is permission granted to a third party to install telecommunications infrastructure, such as fiber optic cables, which are essential for high-speed internet and reliable connectivity. 

Bruce Whitfield asks Jan Vermeulen, editor of MyBroadband, about the two cases cited by WAPA in its statement.

Based on the evidence presented, Vermeulen says, these are big or even reckless allegations.

"Maybe they've got more stuff that they're not publicly sharing at the moment, but it would centre on two anecdotes of wireless internet service providers (ISPs)...who were looking for wayleaves to lay some fibre of their own for some reason.."

"They're talking of unfair treatment where one ISP went to the municipality and said, I'd like to hang some fiber from a pole, and was told they could only get the permission to trench it, which is far more costly. Then, along comes a nameless, big fiber operator with a similar request... and the municipality gives them permission to roll out their aerial fiber."

Jan Vermeulen, Editor - MyBroadband

In the second case, WAPA allegest that a wireless internet service provider (WISP) was rolling out fiber where wayleave acquisition was not an issue, until the big players moved in. All their future wayleaves were declined, according to the Association, while the large players were granted theirs for the duration of their fiber rollout projects.

"These are literally two companies - one big one, small - both applying for apparently similar permission to dig up roads and pavements to lay cable for some reason or to hang cable from poles..." 

"These are two very vague anecdotes but if they are true, hopefully they don't speak to a larger problem and hopefully you can just isolate the cases of people doing bad things. With municipalities... before you're even allowed to trench you normally have to put money on the table. "

Jan Vermeulen, Editor - MyBroadband

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