Telkom testing local loop unbundling

Telkom is going to offer a version of local loop unbundling (LLU) at around 200 of its exchanges, which CEO Sipho Maseko said is paving the way for more more open-access broadband.

“In the past we would fiercely oppose LLU,” said Maseko, speaking at Satnac 2015, but Telkom has changed its perspective on wholesale open-access networks.

News that Telkom would open its exchanges first emerged in the company’s annual report, where it said it was trying to stimulate broadband access in South Africa.

Local loop unbundling has been a long time coming in South Africa, with former Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe Casaburri stating that the process should be urgently completed by 2011.

The November 2011 deadline was missed, and resulted in a spate of new deadlines being announced and missed.

Most recently, Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services Siyabonga Cwele announced plans to have an approved LLU strategy by March 2017.

Details of Telkom’s LLU’s plans have not been revealed, but the operator said it is analysing how best to structure the service. When its analysis is complete, it will share more information about its LLU trial plans.

Jan Vermeulen is a guest of Telkom at Satnac 2015.

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