Big brother casts net wide

Have you wondered about the camera poles popping up in suburbs across Johannesburg and who’s building them?

The mystery has been solved: Vumatel subsidiary Vumacam is responsible. It is building a citywide CCTV network offering ultra-high-definition video feeds to security companies and ultimately law-enforcement agencies.

Vumacam is using its fibre network infrastructure in the city to connect the cameras, of which more than 900 have already been deployed (capable of carrying 3 000 CCTV cameras).

It plans to roll out a total of 15 000 cameras across the city, with much of the deployment expected to be completed in the next 12 months. Vumacam plans to sell the video feeds to neighbourhood security companies by area.

The “secure public surveillance network” includes advanced software features that will allow for the automatic detection of stolen vehicles using a link to a central database, for example.

Vumacam is a joint venture between Vumatel (51%) and Imfezeko Holdings (49%).

The company plans to spend about R500 million covering Johannesburg with CCTV systems. It has received support and wayleaves from the City of Johannesburg for the deployment.

The primary focus for now is on security, but there are many other potential ancillary benefits, said Vumatel co-founder Niel Schoeman.

“Our vision is ambitious: to make South Africa a safer place by providing a CCTV platform that transforms how security and communities work together,” the company said.

“We’ve created a solution that not only contributes to the efficiencies and effectiveness, we also envision it will, over time, contribute to the success of South Africa socioeconomically.”

If a crime happens in one suburb, a suspect’s getaway vehicle cannot be tracked from suburb to suburb, for example. The system can monitor the suspect vehicle as it moves across the city, helping in crime-fighting efforts.

In terms of expansion plans, Schoeman indicated that Cape Town will likely be the next city to get the system once the fibre network had reached critical mass.

Our vision is to make South Africa a safer place by providing a CCTV platform that transforms how security and communities work together.

Vumacam statement