TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      New Openview channels coming as platform turns profitable

      27 May 2022

      Wapa’s Paul Colmer on why Icasa should open up 6GHz for Wi-Fi

      27 May 2022

      How Broadcom’s blockbuster VMware deal happened

      27 May 2022

      The cost for South Africa to quit its coal habit: R4-trillion – study

      26 May 2022

      Apple is feeling the smartphone industry chill

      26 May 2022
    • World

      Musk sued by Twitter investors for stock ‘manipulation’

      27 May 2022

      Broadcom agrees to buy VMware for $61-billion

      26 May 2022

      Musk pledges more equity to fund Twitter deal

      26 May 2022

      Sony looks beyond the console to PC and mobile gaming

      26 May 2022

      Andreessen Horowitz raises world’s largest crypto fund

      26 May 2022
    • In-depth

      Bernie Fanaroff – the scientist who put African astronomy on the map

      23 May 2022

      Chip giant ASML places big bets on a tiny future

      20 May 2022

      Elon Musk is becoming like Henry Ford – and that’s not a good thing

      17 May 2022

      Stablecoins wend wobbly way into the unknown

      17 May 2022

      The standard model of particle physics may be broken

      11 May 2022
    • Podcasts

      Spectrum auction opens up big growth opportunities – Ruckus Networks

      26 May 2022

      Everything PC S01E03 – ‘The story of Intel – part 1’

      25 May 2022

      The rewarding and lucrative careers to be had in infosec

      23 May 2022

      Dean Broadley on why product design at Yoco is an evolving art

      18 May 2022

      Everything PC S01E02 – ‘AMD: Ryzen from the dead – part 2’

      17 May 2022
    • Opinion

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022

      How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

      8 April 2022

      Cash is still king … but not for much longer

      31 March 2022

      Icasa on the role of TV white spaces and dynamic spectrum access

      31 March 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»News»Growing gap in broadband speeds

    Growing gap in broadband speeds

    News By Duncan McLeod20 January 2015
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email

    ethernet-640

    The gulf between those with access to the fastest broadband speeds and those on basic speeds has widened over recent years and in the near term looks likely to increase further.

    This is a key finding in Deloitte’s TMT Predictions 2015 report, released this month. The global report says the number of broadband homes will reach 715m by the end of this year, with average broadband speeds increasing by between 15% and 25%.

    But there is a growing gap between those with the fastest access speeds to the Internet and those on more pedestrian connections.

    “When we talk about broadband divides, this often refers to the gulf between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’,” Deloitte says. “This gap is important, but it is also critical to recognise variations between the ‘haves’.”

    In many markets, the top decile or top 10% of broadband homes are likely to enjoy 10 times or greater the average speed of those in the bottom decile, Deloitte says.

    According to the firm, broadband speeds are mainly affected by two factors, location and available technology. Those far from telephone exchanges, especially those in more rural areas, typically receive slower service, while those with fibre connections will get speedier access than those using older copper-based digital subscriber lines.

    Affordability is also a factor in determining speed. It’s those who can afford higher-speed connections that have them.

    Over time, the speed of cable and fibre access technologies has increased, although copper broadband using ADSL hasn’t made similar progress.

    There’s life in copper, though, says Deloitte. A technology called G.Fast will offer speeds of up to 1Gbit/s over existing copper connections by increasing the range of frequencies over which broadband signals travel.

    “The drawback with this approach is that it works over very short distances — ideally 100m or less. This is an acceptable distance in neighbourhoods packing in dozens of homes within 100m of a cabinet, but in some rural areas homes may be over 100m from the road, and many kilometres from the exchange.”

    Broadband providers could deploy cabinets in close proximity to every home wanting high speeds, but as private businesses in the absence of subsidies, they will inevitably tend to focus on upgrading connections in cities as they offer the highest potential return, the report says. Fibre deployed into homes is even more expensive.

    “Fibre to the cabinet is the most likely technology to be deployed in markets with ubiquitous pre-existing copper networks: it is a fraction of the cost of extending fibre to the premises,” Deloitte says. “However, its performance is markedly affected by distance from the exchange, so it may increase speeds for those with existing access to fast broadband, rather than bring slow broadband speeds more in-line with the average.”

    There are “evident implications” for telecommunications regulators, the company says.

    “It may not be sufficient simply to call for broadband to be recognised as a universal service, in the same way as fixed-line telephony is in many countries. The definition of what broadband is needs to be updated regularly and speed is a key parameter. Historically this has focused on downstream speed, but in future, as broadband usage evolves, upstream speed will become increasingly important as users upload more content.

    “Regulators should also consider how price per megabit is affected by technology. Households with access only to ADSL broadband do not just have lower speeds but are also paying significantly more per megabit-per-second.”  — © 2015 NewsCentral Media

    Deloitte
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleSanral downgraded over e-tolls
    Next Article Higher education at risk: Wits

    Related Posts

    New Openview channels coming as platform turns profitable

    27 May 2022

    Wapa’s Paul Colmer on why Icasa should open up 6GHz for Wi-Fi

    27 May 2022

    How Broadcom’s blockbuster VMware deal happened

    27 May 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Financial advisers: manage your commission and analyse revenue effortlessly

    27 May 2022

    BT, MTN Business form strategic alliance in Africa

    26 May 2022

    Think like a start-up: how to build a competitive digital enterprise

    26 May 2022
    Opinion

    A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

    19 May 2022

    From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

    19 April 2022

    How AI is being deployed in the fight against cybercriminals

    8 April 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.