Telkom's digging trenches

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 17 December 2006

Telkom is digging trenches quite literally to strengthen its position before its fixed-line competitor Neotel launches an all out assault in the telecoms war.

Contractors are busy digging trenches in our cities with the main aim of replacing Telkom’s “ageing copper-based infrastructure with fibre-optic cables” (A faster ride, Ducan McLeod, 2006). “The company’s goal is to shorten the length of the local loop — the copper cables that link consumers to its network — so it can provide much faster broadband access into consumers’ homes” (A faster ride, Ducan McLeod, 2006). In other words, a shorter local loop will enable Telkom to deploy faster versions of ADSL.

Telkom plans to deploy ADSL2+ (a faster version of ADSL) in the first half of 2007, “which theoretically allows download speeds of up to 24Mbit/s” (A faster ride, Ducan McLeod, 2006). ADSL broadband speeds of 8-10Mbit/s, twice as fast as Telkom’s fastest ADSL service currently, can be expected according to Thami Msimango, Telkom’s Chief Technical Officer. This will enable Telkom to expand its package of services to broadband TV or IPTV, minimizing its dependence on its core voice business.

Telkom is preparing for war especially since it was forced to drop its fees for international bandwidth with 40% since Neotel’s debut 3 months ago (End predicted for ‘telecoms rip-off’, Lesley Stones, 2006). While it’s clear that the cost of ADSL broadband remains high in South Africa, it’s also clear that the wheels of positive change are turning much faster than previously. It will be a big mistake to assume that Telkom’s not ready for the all out telecoms war that will erupt in the second quarter of 2007.

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa) welcomes Telkom’s efforts. Hopefully it will result in faster and cheaper ADSL in South Africa.