Telkom’s fibre-to-the-home plans

Telkom engineers would like nothing more than to have fibre in every home in SA, said Bashier Sallie, head of wholesale and networks, speaking at a press event in Waterkloof today (28 March 2012).

Sallie added that a healthy dose of pragmatism is needed, however, as such deployments need to be financially viable.

He acknowledged that this view isn’t a popular one, but said that the type of services offered to users using fibre (FTTx) can often be replicated with high-speed ADSL and VDSL technology.

Sallie explained that 93% of their existing customer base is within theoretical reach of a DSL port, with 2,700 remote DSLAMs and DLCs currently deployed that offer “up to 10Mbps” ADSL.

Telkom’s network transformation project seeks to replace these with multi-service access nodes (MSANs) and add an additional 1,000 cabinets throughout the country.

Bashier Sallie

These MSANs will allow Telkom to roll out ADSL2+, VDSL2, and fibre services as required, but Sallie emphasised that the business case must make sense.

He went on to list three scenarios where Telkom would roll out fibre-to-the-home, or fibre-to-the-premises services:

1. Greenfield deployments: new estates and office parks;
2. Economically viable clusters such as office parks, residential buildings, and gated communities where it makes sense;
3. Areas with poor copper quality which would require significant reticulation investment to rehabilitate it and the business case makes sense.

Related articles

Ekurhuleni fibre moratorium impact

Is ADSL dying?

10Mbps Fibre to the Home starting from R197

Neotel explains Fibre to the Home plans