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Broadband vs.
ISDN
ADSL
South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 9 April
2007
In Britain it seems that ISDN is falling away
to make place for broadband. Things do not look as gloomy for
ISDN in South Africa however, at least not at
present.
‘…British Telecom (BT) recently
announced that it will no longer offer Integrated Services
Digital Network (ISDN) services to consumers and is due to
phase out the service by the end of this year’ (ISDN losing out
to broadband, MyADSL, 7 April 2007).
In other words, ISDN in Britain
should become a thing of the past by the end of the
year.
Why is BT phasing out
ISDN?
A lack of demand is noted as the
primary reason.
In reference to the decision to
withdraw consumer ISDN, a BT spokesman was quoted in a BBC
article as saying that “…the demand for it has dived with the
availability of cheap, fast broadband” (ISDN losing out to
broadband, MyADSL, 7 April 2007).
‘Until a few years ago ISDN was a
popular alternative to slower dial-up modems, but with
broadband now offering a faster, cheaper service the British
have quickly opted to go with the newer technology. The average
broadband speed for 50% of UK adults is 3.8 Mbps, multiple
times that of ISDN. Unsurprisingly services like ADSL started
dominating the market, leaving ISDN to survive only in places
where it is better than ADSL, as is the case with broadcasting’
(ISDN losing out to broadband, MyADSL, 7 April
2007).
In other words, demand for ISDN
has fallen because of the availability of faster and cheaper
alternatives.
Is ISDN following the
same downward trend in South Africa?
No, ISDN is at present still
following an upward trend in South Africa.
‘With the introduction of ADSL in
South Africa, which is a flat rated service that provides
superior speeds to ISDN, one would expect the same to happen
locally. ISDN is however still showing healthy growth in South
Africa’ (ISDN losing out to broadband, MyADSL, 7 April
2007).
‘According to Telkom’s most
recent results the number of ISDN subscriptions increased by
3.8% in the last year, from 682 000 to 708 000. This is three
times the number of ADSL connections in South Africa’ (ISDN
losing out to broadband, MyADSL, 7 April 2007).
In other words, ISDN is
at present still king in South Africa when compared to
ADSL broadband in terms of
numbers.
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