Lion’s share of the capital expenditure will go towards building new LTE base station sites in both urban and deep rural areas of the province. This network acceleration is expected to aid in removing barriers to communications, provide access to fast internet and help in driving digital inclusion among communities in deep rural areas of the province. Availability of high-speed broadband is critical to deep rural development, but research shows that deep rural communities are lagging behind in terms of broadband connectivity, excluding many from digital transformation. Additional 19 are planned until the end of 2021 financial year in deep rural areas. Some of the district municipalities that stands to benefit from the rural network programme include eThekwini District Municipality (8), Ugu District Municipality (1), Umhlabuyalingana District Municipality (2), Umkhanyakude District Municipality (1), uThungulu District Municipality (1) and Zululand District Municipality (1).
There has been a massive focus on broadband connectivity in the rural areas, with LTE coverage specifically in the rural segment at just over 80% and plans to address remaining areas by the end of the 2021 financial year. Critically, the region crossed the 2000 base station mark in mid-year. Furthermore, we’ve completed an additional 625 sites as part of bandwidth expansion in order to provide far more improved data experience largely targeted in eThekwini and Pietermaritzburg. share of the capital expenditure will be used to roll out ultra-fast fibre, also to accelerate digital inclusion. For example, 56km of fibre will be installed in Newcastle running from Newcastle, Madadeni, Oswezwini, and Blaauwbousch back to Newcastle. This project will be completed on 22 December 2020. The National Long Route fibre in construction running from Durban, Scottsburg, Port Shepstone, Harding to Kokstad will be completed by the end of the 2021 financial year.