Durban - Smartest City in Africa
Fiber-Optic Network Being Used to Connect Citzens
The Smart City Conference and Exhibition in Durban, South Africa has kicked affordable broadband provision into top gear making Durban the Smartest City in Africa.
Smartxchange an initiative within the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), South Africa, gathered its role players and partners and decided that in order for Durban to become the Smartest City in Africa, they had to host an inaugural Smart City and Conference and Exhibition at the International Convention Centre.
One of the main speakers was Ms Wee Huay Neo from MSC Malaysia who spoke about Malaysia’s Multi-media Corridor and their Cybercities and Cybercentres which serve as incubators and catalysts for the ICT industry. They also extend benefits to the local communities.
Durban (or eThekwini as the locals call it), a city of over 3 000 000 people on the East Coast of South Africa is well poised to harness the power of technology for the benefit of all its citizens. For the past two years it has been the winner of the Vuna Awards for the Best Run Municipality in the country and at present has the highest Standard and Poors rating of any municipality in South Africa.
Wif-fi hotspots in all libraries in Durban
As part of eThekwini Municipality’s commitment to connect its citizens to the World Wide Web, all of Durban’s 85 libraries have already been internet enabled allowing members to make use of this facility at no cost.
Members can either use the computers in the libraries, or bring their own wireless enabled laptops. Membership to the city’s libraries is free and the membership number is used as the user name password to enable connectivity.
The City’s extensive fiber-optic network that has been in place for years is being upgraded and used as the conduit for communications while the “last mile” (the connection from the fiber and the libraries) is achieved wirelessly.
With the investment in infrastructure allowing connectivity to all areas of the city, the vision to close the digital divide is now a reality.
At the opening ceremonies of the Smart City Conference and Exhibition, Deputy Mayor, Councillor Logie Naidoo said: “We can also see that as a host city for the 2010 World Cup, we will be prepared to have the infrastructure, facilities and expertise to become truly involved in a digital way and not just bridge the digital divide – eThekwini is going to own the bridge!”
The idea is to connect up all the citizens with free or affordable broadband in order to change the delivery of government services, business processes, education and people’s access to information and to be able to rightfully claim the title of the Smartest City in Africa.
The papers presented at the Smart City Conference and Exhibition are available at Smartexchange.
If you want to travel to Durban, read this article.
(Click on the pics to enlarge them)
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