After a recent Telkom survey where consumers were quizzed about uncapped ADSL packages, bundled with voice minutes and even 8ta contracts, speculation started that Telkom is set to launch new ADSL packages soon.
Telkom’s survey also mentioned 20Mbps ADSL speeds, which in turn raised questions as to whether the company is planning to increase the speed of its current ADSL offerings.
Newly appointed Telkom Group CEO Nombulelo (Pinky) Moholi told MyBroadband that this survey merely forms part of the company’s research into potential future offerings, and consumers’ appetites for various services.
Moholi made it clear that consumers should not read too much into these surveys, adding that uncapped ADSL is merely one part of the investigation without any immediate plans to launch such a service.
Moholi however said that ADSL and broadband remains a priority for Telkom, and confirmed that the company is looking at boosting ADSL speeds to 20Mbps in areas where it makes sense.
20Mbps ADSL speeds requires short local loop lengths, high quality copper infrastructure and adequate backhaul capacity. This, Moholi explained, is done through the company’s continued network renewal and upgrade program.
It is understood that these upgrades will mainly be focused on areas where it makes financial sense – hence South Africa’s major cities.
Moholi further said that there is also a drive to take old technologies out of their network which is creating bottlenecks – giving the example of the ATM network being replaced by Metro-Ethern
