Gauteng announces R2.7-billion fibre and 5G investment

The Gauteng provincial government has invested R2.7 billion in the Department of Infrastructure Development to provide reliable broadband and 5G connectivity to businesses in the province.

This is according to Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi, who made the announcement during his 2024 State of the Province address on Monday, 19 February.

“We are going to make Gauteng attractive to investors. We are going to make Gauteng to have new plants and provide the necessary support to those who choose to invest in our province,” the premier said.

“But you can’t do that if you don’t have the best connectivity in our province.”

“We are proud that the government that I have the honour to lead [has] just invested R2.7 billion in the Gauteng Infrastructure Development so that we can have reliable broadband and 5G for companies to connect with their clients easily in our province,” he added.

Lesufi said the investment in the Gauteng Broadband Network (GBN) will ultimately mean that small businesses, schools, and public institutions in Gauteng will no longer struggle for connectivity.

“We want to thank MTN and the institutions that are partnering with us,” he added.

“If you don’t know, the new economy is data. The new economy is Wi-Fi, and we are proud to as a province that we are leading on that particular front.”

The provincial government first awarded a tender for the implementation of the GBN to Altech Alcom Matomo (later Altron Nexus) in February 2014, after the plan was initiated in January 2013.

The project sought to:

• Provide network coverage to 95% of Gauteng’s population;
• Acquire and use ICTs in a manner that leverages economies of scale; and,
• Provide affordable services and enable the interoperability of the GPG’s information systems with those of other government institutions.

It also promised to enhance the efficiency of service delivery and eliminate unnecessary duplication of ICTs in the Provincial Government whilst ensuring information systems remain secure.

In November 2014, then-Gauteng finance MEC Barbara Creecy revealed that the provincial government had reprioritised R333m towards the GBN and other information and communication technologies.

Less than a year later, the network roll-out by Altech Alcom Matomo reached a significant milestone, with it achieving fibre broadband connectivity to eight core nodes.

The notes were located at 75 Fox Street, Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital, 82 Grayston Drive, Steve Biko Academic Hospital, Imbuba House, Teraco, Telkom Data Centre, and Sedibeng District Municipal head office.

In April 2019, the Gauteng Department of e-Government revealed that it had connected 1,181 sites to the network.

“To date, we have a 1500 km network of fibre linking 8 Core Nodes across the province. We have 1181 sites connected to the network across the province covering the 5 developmental corridors,” it said.

“The broadband network is a step towards bridging the digital divide and greater accessibility to government services.”

Most recently, Gauteng awarded Phase 3 of its broadband network rollout to another company, leading to retrenchments at Altron Nexus.