ADSL Broadband: Breakdown of Naked ADSL Line Costs

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 25 July 2011

According to Telkom, Naked ADSL is not viable due to the current costing structure of ADSL. ICASA has revealed its document about LLU (Local Loop Unbundling) and they have requested that stakeholders get involved in discussions as to how proceedings should go with regard to this very important regulatory intervention.

In truth, it is more a debate than a discussion as there is mixed reaction in the market regarding this subject. ICASA has recommended a variety of options, which include full loop unbundling, which means full access. Other options include line sharing and this means that there will be shared access to the local loop and the last option is bit stream access and this involves Telkom selling access on a wholesale basis. The first option is problematic in that it is expensive and complicated. Not many of the competitors have the necessary resources to benefit from Telkom's copper infrastructure. This is on the basis that they are even able to access the infrastructure.

Stakeholders are of the opinion that full LLU should certainly be part of the solution and at the same time, some of the service providers are asking for fast solutions to improve the quality of fixed line ADSL in the country. Rudi Jansen, the CEO of MWEB favours reduced price wholesale access and he has requested ICASA to focus on making this happen. He also suggests that faster speeds should be provided and that Naked ADSL be introduced. Naked ADSL involves Telkom splitting the voice service and ADSL line rental and the two lines not being conditional on each other.

<< Previous    [1]  2  3    Next >>