Fibre optic access makes Century City more attractive to tenants, buyers and investors

FIBRE To The Home (FTTH) is a major contributing factor to the growing demand for homes at Century City from buyers and tenants, according to Brian Usher, sales director of Property World, the onsite sales agents for new residential developments at Century City.

Rabie Property Group, the developer of Century City, Clara Anna Fontein and Burgundy Estate in Cape Town, received an award for the most tech friendly property company at this year’s annual conference of the FTTH Council Africa held recently at the Century City Conference Centre.

Fibre To The Home (FTTH) is available to residents at 14 of the 18 residential developments at Century City and 95 percent of businesses in the precinct are now also able to connect to Century City’s open access fibre optic network.

Hein de Swardt, operations manager for Century City Connect, the company that operates a carrier neutral last mile open-access fibre optic network within Century City, says that in the past few years fibre had been deployed to all new residential buildings coming on stream and many of the older buildings had been retrofitted.

“We are in discussions with the remaining bodies corporate and home owners’ associations to get approval to roll out fibre to these developments as well. The 20 or so internet service providers (ISPs) tied in with Century City Connect are offering FTTH packages from R299 a month to residents, who can choose their preferred ISP.

“There has been this mistaken idea that fibre is so much more expensive than copper but the reality is not the case. In addition fibre offers faster speeds and it is a real enabler allowing data, voice and multi-media connectivity whereas copper allows for only voice or data,” says de Swardt.

“This is particularly important for the younger market for whom high speed internet connectivity is as important as electricity or water and has been a driving force behind the strong demand for rental accommodation in Century City as tenants generally tend to be younger than investors or owner occupiers.

“It is also a prime consideration for investors as FTTH future proofs their investment and makes it more likely they will find suitable tenants at their asking rental.”

De Swardt says the Century City Connect network average connection speed is 39Mbps against the average SA connection speed of 5.6Mbps.

At Burgundy Estate where Rabie recently joined forces with Nedbank to complete the suburb, FTTH is being rolled out to all four new developments Rabie has launched.

FTTH is also being made available to all residents at Clara Anna Fontein in Durbanville, which Rabie is developing in a joint venture with the landowners and which will consist of 344 single residential homes and erven and 126 townhouses.

Mayfair residential development nearing completion at Century City. Mayfair is one of 14 residential developments in Century City offering Fibre To The Home.