Telkom broadband trial deemed a success

Monday, February 25, 2013

Pretoria - Telkom’s high speed broadband trial has been a success, the company said on Monday.

Telkom's high speed broadband pilot started in October 2012 and gave participating internet customers access to speeds of up to 20Mbps and up to 40Mbps.

This was as a result of the network upgrade that Telkom completed in the pilot areas consisting of 53 street distribution cabinet (SDC) sites in five exchange areas.

The areas included Benmore Gardens, Fourways and Waterkloof in Gauteng, Durban North in KwaZulu-Natal and Durbanville in the Western Cape.

Ninety percent of participants on the 20Mbps services consistently synced at 20Mbps and 74% of the 40Mbps participants consistently synced at 40Mbps.

“The pilot has seen participating customers experience broadband speed and throughput of an outstanding quality,” says Telkom’s Wholesale and Networks Managing Director, Bashier Sallie.

Eskom is now planning to launch DSL up to 20Mbps and DSL up to 40Mpbs options to the market from 4 March 2013. Customers can use the DSL tracker tool from 4 March, which will be available at http://www.telkom.co.za/checkadsl/ , to check if they are within the coverage areas.

The upgrades entail, amongst others, replacing DSL Access Multiplexer (DSLAM) technology with Multi Service Access Nodes (MSANs).

“This marks another significant milestone on the Company's journey to transform its network. The revamp of Telkom's access network aims to enable a truly differentiated broadband capability,” said Sallie.

Telkom is transforming its network in line with the positive results of the pilot programme.

"This upgrade is the next step in our efforts to provide ubiquitous, quality broadband in the country.” - SAnews.gov.za