Telkom 10 Mbps ADSL likely here in June
It is well known that Telkom has been trialing its 10 Mbps ADSL service for some time already, and that it has been planning to up the speeds of its 4 Mbps broadband offering before the 2010 World Cup.
In November last year Telkom CEO said that he was keen to launch a higher speed ADSL service as quickly as possible, adding that it will happen before the 2010 World Cup. This still looks to be case with speculation suggesting that Telkom is planning to officially launch its 10 Mbps ADSL service in June.
It is further rumored that Telkom will significantly increase its current data bundle sizes, hence providing subscribers with more value without losing revenue.
DSLAM and exchange upgrades
In January this year Telkom Wholesale’s Mike Vos explained that a great deal of network upgrades are needed to provide consumers with a 10 Mbps ADSL service which performs at a high level, and that only DSLAMs with the latest DSL2+ equipment and software and served by Metro Ethernet connectivity will be used to provide the new service.
At the time only around 5% to 10% of Telkom’s 4 Mbps ADSL customer base are served by such DSLAMs, but aggressive network upgrades were planned to enable at least 30% to 40% of DSLAMs to make it feasible for Telkom to start upgrading 4 Mbps subscribers to higher speeds.
It is not clear how many DSLAMs were upgraded before Telkom’s network freeze kicked in earlier this month but the network freeze is certain to directly impact the number of ADSL users who will be able to gain access to speeds of up to 10 Mbps.
Telkom previously explained that their ‘fastest broadband’ subscribers will get the fastest speeds possible, which may not always mean 10 Mbps if their line quality is poor or their DSLAM does not support the higher speeds. It may however still be higher than 4 Mbps, depending on what the maximum stable sync speed is between the user and his exchange.
Telkom silent on the issue
Telkom was asked about their 10 Mbps plans, but the company would not give any specific details about its planned upgrades or increasing its data bundle sizes.
According to one Telkom manager in the retail sector they are still not entirely certain when Telkom Wholesale will announce the 10 Mbps ADSL upgrades, adding that other ISPs are likely to hear about this development at the same time as Telkom Retail.
With all the latest developments in the local broadband and ADSL space, the big one being the launch of uncapped ADSL, it is likely that Telkom is keen to launch new ADSL data bundles, and up the speed of its ADSL service, to remain competitive in the market.
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