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Telkom's network at the core of elections

The Electoral Commission (IEC) has again entrusted Telkom to provide one of the most essential services required to enable free and fair elections.

In addition to the primary solution that caters for the IEC's needs, Telkom is also fulfilling the requests of broadcasters and media channels so that South Africa and the world are kept informed at every step of the voting and counting process.

Telkom's role prior, during and after the 2011 Municipal Elections on 18th May 2011 is to provide telecommunications infrastructure to all of the IEC controlled election-related points of presence throughout South Africa.

Telkom will in effect enable the safe and secure delivery of ballot results from 20 864 polling stations around the country to the National Results Centre (NRC) at the Tshwane Show Grounds, via 350 Municipal Election Offices (MEOs), 9 Provincial Results Centres (PRCs) and the IEC's Headquarters (IEC HQ).

Godfrey Ntoele, Telkom's Managing Executive for Large and Government Business Services, says: "We are privileged to once again serve the nation and to be part of the ongoing development and evolution of the democratic process in South Africa. Free and fair elections are an essential component of our democracy."

"The partnership between Telkom and the Electoral Commission has been a long and successful one. We have been part of the democratic process starting with the historic elections in 1994, and all the national, provincial and municipal elections which have followed.

"The elections do not happen only on election day. We have partnered the Electoral Commission in the registration process and the compilation of the voters roll, which started some time ago, and we continue providing communication services until long after election day is over.

"On the two registration weekends in February and March, in preparation for the 2011 Local Government Municipal elections, we provided the infrastructure to register over 23, 6 million voters successfully. Telkom is committed to providing the most secure and stable telecommunications solution for the entire election process from start to finish, ensuring that every vote is counted," says Ntoele.

The solution requires access for the IEC's Wide Area Network (WAN) through Telkom's Virtual Private Network Services (VPNS) platform that uses multiple access mediums including VSAT technology, Diginet/Martis, ATM, Metro LAN, Telkom's ADSL and ISDN (Primary and Basic Rate) architecture.

"To this end Telkom's extensive national footprint, ubiquitous network and the depth of skills and expertise within the organisation has facilitated the customer specific requirements of the IEC," he continued.

Cybernest, Telkom's Data Centre Operation is at the heart of the IEC's Disaster Recovery (DR) measure. Working as a mirror image of the IEC's Head Office, all data activities at the IEC HQ are replicated at Telkom's Data Centre in real time. In the unlikely event of disaster at IEC HQ, the DR site will take over all activities and the elections will proceed uninterrupted.

Telkom has also provided the infrastructure for the IEC Call Centre in Centurion which was used during the voter registration process. This Call Centre will remain operational over the entire election period. Back to Top

Additional Information:

Site and infrastructure detail

The integrated Telkom-designed voice and data solution to be used by the IEC during the 2011 Municipal Elections will help speed up some processes that might have taken several days in the past. Eliminating much of the earlier manual logistics and processing, the telecommunications solution assists in streamlining efficiencies in a cost-effective manner for the IEC.

South Africans from all over the country will on 18 May 2011 make their way to the polling/voting station closest to where they reside. Their votes will be cast, ballot papers gathered and transferred to the applicable Municipal Election Office.

Counting of the votes will occur at the MEO's. The count data is thereafter scanned and transferred electronically to the Provincial Results Centre where data for all the MEO's in the applicable province is collated, figures consolidated and in turn transferred electronically to the IEC Headquarters and simultaneously to the Disaster Recovery site at Telkom's Data Centre for final collation and consolidation. At almost every stage of the vote counting process, the data is transferred to and presented in real time at the National Result Centre which is situated at the Tshwane Show Grounds.

The overall design of this customer and event specific solution consists of various core network and access technologies. Below is the detail of the various sites and summary of what Telkom has provisioned towards a successful election event.

Fact Sheet

Polling/Voting Stations

Number = 20 864

These stations are spread all over the country; from the most densely populated urban and suburban areas to the most rural of communities.

Municipal Election Offices (MEO)

Number = 350

• Some MEOs are in control of up to 400 IEC polling stations that feedback data to them.
• 20 MEOs are connected to the applicable Provincial Results Centre (PRC) via VSAT technology.
• 330 MEOs are connected to the applicable PRC via Telkom's VPNS platform. These sites have been updated to a minimum speed of 1 Mbps.
• Basic Rate Interfaces (BRIs), ADSL and analogue telephone lines have been installed.

Provincial Results Centres (PRC)

Number = 9

• There is one Provincial Results Centre (PRC) in each province. Each PRC has two high speed 4Mbps circuits that connect to the National Results Centre (NRC) and media.
• 8Mbps ATM broadcast links provide connectivity for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) between each PRC and the SABC HQ in Auckland Park Johannesburg.
• A point to point high speed Diginet circuit per PRC connects to the local SABC office.
• 24 newly provisioned Primary Rate Interfaces (PRIs) provide voice services for the PRCs.
• Each PRC has been supplied with a PABX Business System.
• Basic Rate Interfaces (BRIs), ADSL and analogue telephone lines have been installed.
• A point to point high speed Diginet circuit per PRC connects to the local SABC office.

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IEC Headquarters

Number = 1

• Telkom has upgraded the existing infrastructure between IEC HQ and some MEOs.
• A VSAT backhaul link has been installed.
• High speed 4Mbps VPN access connects to Telkom's Hartebeeshoek earth station to facilitate data relay from remote VSAT MEOs to the results centre in the shortest possible time.
• Two 165 Mbps links Metro-Ethernet links connects the IEC HQ to MEOs and PRCs.
• High speed data circuits have been facilitated between IEC HQ the NRC and the DR site.
• Some connectivity between IEC HQ and the DR site has been migrated to Telkom's VPNS platform.

Hosting Environment (DR site)

Number = 1

• High speed 25 Mbps and 15 Mbps VPN data links connect the DR site to the rest of the IEC sites namely the results centres and the MEOs.

National Result Centre (Tshwane Show Grounds)

Number = 1

• This is a temporary site at the Tshwane show grounds constructed specifically for the elections.
• All telecommunications facilities are connected to the NRC via a Telkom Mobile Exchange which is situated at the Tshwane show grounds.
• The Telkom Mobile facility offers a fully redundant optic fibre connection to two different Telkom exchanges. Each fibre connection has bandwidth capacity of 2.5 Gbps connecting to Telkom's core network.
• 70 Mbps ATM SABC Broadcasting links, 8 Mbps and 2 Mbps ATM Radio links have been established between the NRC and SABC headquarters.
• Various high speed data circuits will link to SABC's regional offices.
• Basic Rate ISDN Interfaces (BRIs) have been provided for the SABC radio stations for broadcasting purposes. Additional BRIs were installed on site for the outside broadcast vehicles of SABC, etv and Primedia.
• ADSL facilities have also been provided for local and international print media.
• ISDN lines have been installed for radio and TV broadcast links.
• A PABX business system has been provided.
• Basic Rate ISDN Interfaces, ADSL and analogue telephone lines have been installed.
• Dual 25Mbps high speed VPNS circuits connect to the IEC HQ for the coordination and relay of voting results.
• Nine PRIs and two business PABX systems will ensure telephony connectivity to the temporary site. Over 600 telephone extensions will serve the requirements of the IEC offices, etv, SABC, various political parties, local and international print media, multiple radio stations and other service providers housed at the NRC during the event.

IEC Call Centre

Number = 1

• 19 ISDN Primary Rate Interfaces (PRIs) provide telephonic services.