Telkom's ailing fixed-line business

Daniel Puchert

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Telkom's fixed line pain

During the presentation of its annual results, Telkom tried to dress up its fixed-line numbers so it looked like the ailing business segment was performing well. However, this is far from the truth.

Telkom’s annual results show that the company’s fixed-line business freefall continued unabated despite the substantial growth it has recorded in fibre connections.
 
I personally don't know anyone with a Telkom copper landline anymore. Everyone either has fibre or they live on a farm or in a small town where Telkom abandoned them years ago. I don't think anyone misses Telkom.
 
Who cares about Telkskommel. Let it die FFS
 
To be honest, I am not surprised at all. Granted, there are still one or two companies in the sticks that has no other choice. But with the advancements, most companies has switched to VoIP, and in household state, well, we have cellphones now. I know of no-one that has a land-line in their home.
 
I am impressed by Openserve's strategy to replace all copper within its current footprint, including areas that used to have prepaid copper lines, regardless of LSM.

I had a chat with an Openserve subcontractor technician about how they plan to roll out FTTH, do away with cabinets, and use manholes more. I was impressed that the village is getting FTTH.
 
I'm surprised ISPs still provide DSL. It will probably be more cost effective to discontinue it and focus on fibre and wireless.
 
Not sure why this is news. They have been decommissioning copper networks and not replacing after theft
 
Oddly enough, we still have a copper fixed line. We were on ADSL at the time Telkom chose to issue D-Link FLLA (fixed line look alike) to those with just a landlines.

Here's a problem not highlighted yet, these FLLA devices are 3G which is going to pose problems when 3G is shut down!
 
This government has ruined Telkom's reputation by using the company as an AA employment agency. These people usually knew nothing about their jobs and frustrated customers.
These customers will never return
 
They are no longer deploying new fixed lines, neither are they supporting them anymore. This is all planned.

What is this article about?
They're no longer deploying new copper lines. The problem is they are decommissioning them before replacing them with fibre so the overall numbers have also gone down. They also have this stupid policy that where another provider enters they will not deploy fibre and will just remove the copper and hand the business to the other provider trying to get people to take them as an ISP which is terrible. They already have the first mover advantage for most areas in SA so should have leveraged that.
 
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They're no longer deploying new copper lines. The problem is they are decommissioning them before replacing them with fibre so the overall numbers have also gone down. They also have this stupid policy that where another provider enters they will not deploy fibre and will just remove the copper and hand the business to the other provider trying to get people to take them as an ISP which is terrible. They already have the first mover advantage for most areas in SA so should have leveraged that.
True, but it's nothing new. It's been coming on for quite some time.

So if another provider enters, why would they put their own fiber in? In how many suburban areas can people choose FNOs? I can not, neither no anyone I know (unless they don't know themselves LOL).
 
True, but it's nothing new. It's been coming on for quite some time.

So if another provider enters, why would they put their own fiber in? In how many suburban areas can people choose FNOs? I can not, neither no anyone I know (unless they don't know themselves LOL).
It's not just about not putting in fibre but decommissioning their copper wherever there's fibre. They should have just provided naked dsl at a better price as 40Mbps can still effectively compete against fibre like in the states. As for putting in their own they have the advantage of already having the infrastructure in place so all they had to do was replace the copper lines with fibre lines.
 
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