Telkom: Speed upgrades on the horizon

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 21 November 2011

Word is out that Telkom is involved in a project that aims to increase broadband Internet access speeds across their fixed-line network to as high as 40 Mbps. This is in order to be able to offer video-on-demand (VOD) products and to offer higher speeds to entry-level broadband customers.

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It is a bit unclear, but the massive project, which is called the NGNEC project, seems to have already kicked off a while ago with the laying of optical fiber or fiber-optic cables to Telkom’s street-level distribution boxes or cabinets. All in a bit to increase access speeds across their ADSL or copper network. Furthermore, he seems that Telkom is planning to install VDSL2-enabled devices that in theory could lead to substantial increases in access speeds. To give you an idea, with the devices installed access speeds might go as high as 250 Mbps over distances of up to 500m and 50 Mbps over distances between 500m+ and a kilometer. In fact, “Telkom is proposing that by 2013/2014, the slowest access speed offered on its access network will be 1Mbit/s (from 384kbit/s now). By 2015/2016, this will have been increased to between 2Mbit/s and 4Mbit/s with speeds at the high end of 20Mbit/s and 40Mbit/s in selected areas” (Inside Telkom’s broadband, TV plans, TechCentral, The Editor, 14 November 2011). The mentioned speed increases are still some time away, but it should come as good news to some that Telkom is planning to kick start a NGNEC pilot/trial program as early as 15 January next year (2012). The pilot/trial program will involve the deployment of fiber-optic cables that are expected to offer lighting fast access speeds from selected telephone exchanges. Participants in the planned NGNEC pilot/trial program can expect to test drive access speeds of 10 Mbps, 20 Mbps and 40 Mbps.

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ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa) welcomes Telkom’s plans in this regard, although it’s still in the early stages. We don’t really want to bring the subject up again, but we can remember the failed Telkom Media saga as if it was yesterday. Let’s hope Telkom doesn’t screw this up as well.