{"id":548091,"date":"2006-02-24T06:08:48","date_gmt":"2006-02-24T06:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:8888\/wordpress\/technology\/548091-telkom-urges-use-of-local-content.html"},"modified":"2006-02-24T06:08:48","modified_gmt":"2006-02-24T06:08:48","slug":"telkom-urges-use-of-local-content","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/technology\/548091-telkom-urges-use-of-local-content.html","title":{"rendered":"Telkom urges use of local content"},"content":{"rendered":"

He says a lack of local content is one of the main reasons the price of broadband in SA is high; most of the content users access is located on foreign servers. <\/font><\/p>\n

Language-specific countries like Korea are able to provide cheaper broadband because the bulk of the content that users access is from local sources, he says. <\/font><\/p>\n

The lack of local content might also explain why the bulk of Telkom’s users do very little with broadband when they get it. Samuels wants to address this. <\/font><\/p>\n

"Fast Internet is just one of the services you can get on a broadband line," he says. <\/font><\/p>\n

Other services might include television and other media-rich content. <\/font><\/p>\n

Telkom is already testing the delivery of television via the Internet (known as IPTV) in a trial with Microsoft and Alcatel. <\/font><\/p>\n

It is also running a pilot with MultiChoice to test the feasibility of offering a video-on-demand service. <\/font><\/p>\n

Many users will scoff at Telkom’s aim of driving users to local content sources. <\/font><\/p>\n

They point out that the company imposes strict bandwidth caps which severely limit their monthly downloads, both from local and offshore servers. <\/font><\/p>\n

The company has come under fire from consumer lobby groups for its so-called "pay-per-gig" billing model. <\/font><\/p>\n

Critics argue that there’s no point in encouraging people to access content – local or foreign – while there is a bandwidth-capping policy in force. <\/font><\/p>\n

Telkom argues that its broadband users consume an average of 2,5 GB\/month and that the caps are in place to tackle network "abuse" and maintain quality of service. <\/font><\/p>\n

Installed in the newly created post of broadband officer, Samuels oversees Telkom’s broadband offerings, including a newly created programme called TelkomMedia, which delivers voice, data and video content as a bundled service over a single network. <\/font><\/p>\n

However, Samuels has no authority over Telkom’s Internet service provider, TelkomInternet. <\/font><\/p>\n

Nor does he have any say over the submarine telecom cables that link SA with the world. <\/font><\/p>\n

This could make it difficult for him to achieve his goals. <\/font><\/p>\n

His pledge to drive users to local content comes as broadband subscriber numbers finally begin to lift off. <\/font><\/p>\n

Telkom is committed to increasing its broadband penetration from 120,000 to 1m lines within the next three years. <\/font><\/p>\n

MTN, Vodacom, Sentech and Wireless Business Solutions are all offering wireless broadband and the recently licensed SNO is also likely to enter the market. <\/font><\/p>\n

Samuels’ job is not an easy one. Besides competition, he has to placate a customer base that is constantly complaining about the high cost of broadband access, poor quality connections and a slow extension of service. <\/font><\/p>\n

Samuels says the concerns of customers are being addressed. <\/font><\/p>\n

Telkom is committed to reducing prices as more broadband lines are provided. <\/font><\/p>\n

He says there are several ways Telkom plans to push up the pace of its broadband deployment. <\/font><\/p>\n

Besides offering a do-it-yourself broadband kit (no technician required), it is also bringing in subcontractors to install lines. <\/font><\/p>\n

Samuels is reluctant to say what percentage of the programme the subcontractors will be responsible for, citing competitive reasons. <\/font><\/p>\n

He says Telkom has already received spectrum allocation for WiMax, a wireless means of delivering broadband. <\/font><\/p>\n

WiMax will, however, not be the main thrust of Telkom’s broadband programme. <\/font><\/p>\n

Rather, it will be complementary to its fixed lines. <\/font><\/p>\n

Inet-Bridge ||<\/em>\u00a0 <\/font>Discuss this article<\/font><\/a> <\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Telkom’s new broadband tsar, Alphonzo Samuels, wants to reduce the percentage of foreign online content that the company’s broadband users consume.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-548091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548091"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548091\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}