Telkom’s plan to improve LTE performance

Telkom has seen a dramatic increase in the number of customers making use of its mobile data services, specifically its Smart Broadband LTE offerings, the company stated.

Telkom’s Managing Executive for Group Communications Jacqui O’Sullivan said that as a result of the increase, certain sections of its TDD (Time Division Duplex) LTE network in metropolitan areas have been experiencing congestion.

“While our networks are upgraded on an ongoing basis, additional infrastructure investments have been made and are currently underway to further accommodate this unprecedented increase in demand,” said O’Sullivan.

“This capacity was also required as part of a larger refarming project to deploy LTE on the 1,800MHz band.”

Telkom LTE customers recently complained to MyBroadband about high latency during peak times on the operator’s network.

A number of users posted speed test and online gaming statistics which showed their latency increasing from below 50ms to over 200ms in the evening.

Several users said their latency peaked between 500ms to 1,000ms when the problem was at its worst.

Site upgrades on the way

O’Sullivan said that less than 10% of Telkom’s LTE sites are reported as congested, and the company was upgrading capacity at at least 500 sites this financial year.

She said peak traffic times vary per site and per region, but Telkom had noticed its peak traffic starting earlier – from between 15:00-16:00 – and continuing later – up to 01:00.

“Congested areas have been identified and our network team are currently implementing additional core capacity, site backhaul, and radio capacity.”

“It is a priority to ensure we continue to deliver the quality performance our customers deserve, and we apologise for any speed reductions as a result of the huge growth in demand.”

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