Openserve’s big ADSL shutdown explained
Openserve – the wholesale connectivity division of Telkom Group – has explained why it is discontinuing its wholesale ADSL offering in certain areas around the country.
Openserve recently told ISPs that it would shut down ADSL services in areas where it offered fibre connectivity.
This change will be effected on 1 September 2020. A full list of the areas where Openserve DSL customers must migrate to fibre is available here.
In a statement issued on Monday, Openserve CEO Althon Beukes said that the discontinuation of Openserve’s ADSL products forms part of its modernisation process.
“In a drive to give the end customers the best experience, Openserve will be discontinuing its copper-based broadband connectivity in areas where it has replaced it with Openserve FTTH solution and would encourage users to proactively move to its Fibre to the Home connectivity proposition through Openserve’s ISP partners,” the company stated.
“We are encouraging all customers to move on to our modernised FTTH network and experience the joys of being able to connect and consume all required services on it,” Beukes said.
Beukes added that in areas where Openserve is yet to build out end-to-end fibre infrastructure and finds its current copper infrastructure to be stable and reliable, the company will continue to support, maintain, and provide ADSL and VDSL services.
“Openserve will also be taking strict measures not sell services in areas where the copper infrastructure is old, of poor quality and has been prone to theft, vandalism and breakages.”
Hybrid “FTTC” strategy
Beukes stated that while Openserve will migrate copper-connected customers to fibre where possible, it will continue to support its copper infrastructure as part of a hybrid fibre-to-the-cabinet (FTTC) solution.
It said that the widespread need to have stable connectivity across a greater number of homes has led it to believe that both fibre and copper can act effectively in quickly and reliably fulfilling the needs of customers.
“This hybrid use of both fibre and copper has proven very successful in many parts of the world including USA, New Zeeland and UK to name a few,” Beukes said.
Openserve’s hybrid FTTC solution comprises a fibre connection to the curb or cabinet on the street and a copper connection to the individual customer’s home.
The company said this solution can scale up to speeds of 40Mbps, which it said will allow it to compete with fibre-to-the-home at more affordable wholesale prices.
“Openserve continues to focus on the future roll-out of Fibre to the Home (FTTH) solution whilst improving and maintaining copper network with FTTC,” the company said.
“Hence Openserve will continue to modernise its fixed network infrastructure.”
The company said that “no other access medium has left its imprint in the history of communication like copper has”, adding that the technology continues to be relevant when used in tandem with a fibre connection.
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