Contact Us
DOC successfully connects Tshwane college
Facebook
RedditInternet.jpg” alt=”" width=”300″ height=”350″ />The Tshwane North College for Further Education and Training (TNC) broadband project, in partnership with the Department of Communications (DOC), has yielded positive results for teachers and students, says the college.
The Public Private Partnership saw the DOC provide internet connectivity to the college and its campuses through service provider, iBurst.
Acting Principal at the college, Charles Pule, said that the TNC Broadband Project was formed out of frustrations experienced by the TNC following its lack of ability to connect all its six campuses (Rosslyn Campus, Mamelodi Campus, Soshanguve North and South Campuses, Pretoria Campus, Temba Campus) to head office, and to each other as well as to the Internet.
The contract for the installation of 8Mbps WAN to connect the campuses and the head office was awarded to iBurst.
“The lack of resources at the college, especially the availability of an advanced communication and information infrastructure (internet connectivity), had been hampering both the students’ and teachers’ performances,” said Pule.
He added that internet connectivity is a necessity for colleges wishing to excel as it forms the heart and soul of teaching and learning.
“Internet connectivity has added great value towards improving the college’s operations through access to information by all”.
Already one of the major achievements has been access to examination papers when the papers where not delivered as expected. The interconnectivity has also enhanced the college’s ability to establish direct access and reach to one of the remote campuses in Hammanskraal which for many years could not be connected by any other network operator.
In addition administrative processes have become seamless, more efficient and user-friendly for current and prospective students in all parts of the country.
iBurst CEO, Thami Mtshali says he was very pleased to provide a solution to the TNC connectivity problem. He says iBurst has been able to provide the college with an end to end broadband solution, thus alleviating some of its major challenges.
One of iBurst’s corporate social investment objectives is to provide internet access in areas that have previously not been afforded such access. In this partnership and project, the company has succeeded in connecting the TNC campuses in areas where no other telecommunications operator was willing to roll out infrastructure.
“Effective communications tools also serve to make any operation or organisation much more efficient”, said Mtshali.
The links installed by iBurst at the campuses have enabled high speed internet connectivity as well as a voice solution that includes up to 10 telephone lines per site. Some of the key benefits that the TNA has enjoyed as a result of this offering and partnership include free calls between the sites, high speed data transfers between campuses, a highly reliable network and reduced telecoms costs to the college and its campuses.
“We plan to take advantage of the broadband connectivity as we have already seen a marked improvement in student performance as a result of the project. We anticipate that the TNA will continue to see an improvement in its academic results during the first quarter of 2012,” said Pule.
