address digital exclusion issues and to improve digital connectivity among Johannesburg’s citizens and businesses. The JBNP’s vision was to become a \"Smart City,\" and the JBNP was expected to develop economic growth by creating business opportunities, providing access to public services and increasing employment opportunities for youths.To realize its vision, the CoJ awarded a contract to Ericsson – which then transferred it to CitiConnect Communications – to build a fibre network that would extend coverage across the city’s business and residential premises. The network was estimated to be 900 km in length50. The goal was to provide broadband and ICT services at a lower cost by enabling service providers to access wholesale capacity from the JBNP on an open-access basis. This, in turn, would allow service providers to provide lower retail prices to end users. The CoJ would also act as an anchor client, connecting its buildings to the JBNP (this would only account, however, for a small percentage of network capacity). The investment was estimated at about USD 100 million in capital, with management costs expected to be around USD 24 million annually. The contract was constructed along the lines of a public outsourcing model. After 12 years, Ericsson would return responsibility for operating the network back to CoJ51.The network build was expected to go live in 2013, but in 2014 the CoJ terminated the contract with CitiConnect Communications, saying that the company had breached the agreement, a claim CitiConnect disputed. The CoJ paid USD 93 million to Ericsson for the infrastructure that had been built to date and in February 2015,52 the CoJ took responsibility to complete the network build. It is now a public DBO project, meaning that the infrastructure is fully owned and operated by the municipality.The project has come under scrutiny from independent analysts and officials, who have questioned the need for a municipally owned fibre network. Questions have also been raised about the ability of CoJ to compete with commercial service providers to generate profitable returns. There have been calls for the CoJ to sell the network to private service providers.1.3.4 Joint ventures (JVs)A joint venture assumes that ownership is split between the private sector (typically one or more network operators) and the government. The network operator takes responsibility 14 Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2016 Box 1.3: Key lessons: National ICT Broadband Backbone (NICTBB)• NICTBB is operated and managed by TTCL on a transparent and open-access basis and is separate from the rest of TTCL’s business. This is essential in ensuring that service providers are not adversely affected by government intervention in infrastructure.• Other regulatory measures, such as cuts in MTR rates in conjunction with broadband interventions, may be necessary to stimulate growth in mobile services.• Infrastructure intervention, backed by a strong business case and development agenda, can attract significant development funding or loans.• National backbone networks are not an end in themselves. Further investment in metro networks and access networks will still be required to deliver last-mile connectivity.• The lack of specific and defined outcomes makes it difficult to measure the true success of an intervention or investment.• Allocating universal service funds to competing operators can stimulate competition in the development of rural broadband networks.