ADSL Regulations – Is Telkom in compliance?
Telkom guaranteed ICASA earlier this year that it would be in full compliance with the ADSL regulations by the end of November 2007, over a year after the regulations came into effect.
The ADSL Regulations call for – amoung other things – uncapped local bandwidth, an ADSL Service Level Agreement, a 30 day installation period, guaranteed minimum throughput, no port prioritization, the publishing of Key Performance Indicators and no periodic ADSL resets.
Telkom starts to adhere to regulations
Telkom has already published its ADSL Service Level Agreement (SLA) and a set of Key Performance Indicators (KPI), although serious questions were raised about the accuracy of the KPIs available on the Telkom website.
The company also claims an average installation time of far less than the 30 days stipulated by the ADSL regulations.
One of the most contentious issues surrounding the regulations is that “local bandwidth usage shall not be subject to a cap”. Here Telkom argued that they will not cap local usage, but bill users for any local bandwidth usage after being capped.
This ‘uncapped local bandwidth’ service is currently being trialed by Telkom Internet but no price has been communicated for usage after the cap is reached.
Telkom has also provided basic speed guarantees from the user to the ADSL exchange – yet another contentious issue which has been challenged by some subscribers.
There is a group of users who feel that the company should also guarantee some Internet related components, but the company argues that this is not possible as there are too many factors outside the control of Telkom to make such guarantees.
Still in non-compliance?
Two issues which stand out as potential areas where Telkom may not be in compliance with the ADSL regulations are the call for no periodic resets and no port prioritization.
Telkom still admittedly imposes port prioritization on its shaped ADSL accounts despite the fact that the ADSL regulations clearly state that ‘Telkom shall not be allowed to impose port prioritization on their subscribers.’
The company however previously argued that users do have the option of purchasing an unshaped account and that it therefore does not technically ‘impose’ port prioritization on its subscribers.
Telkom also still disconnects users periodically and ISPs do not have the option to circumvent this 24 hour reset as it happens on the Telkom SAIX side.
Complaints and Compliance Committee (CCC) Hearings
Telkom’s alleged non-compliance with the ADSL regulations culminated in an ICASA CCC hearing where a few issues regarding the regulations came under the spotlight.
The findings of these hearings will be published next week, ICASA said.
Telkom’s Group Executive for Corporate Communications, Lulu Letlape, says that Telkom is in full compliance with the ADSL regulations.
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