Telkom Wholesale is doubling broadband ADSL connection speeds in a phased migration process that will begin on 11 November, the telecommunications operator said on Friday.
Because of a planned network freeze over December and January, upgrades that aren’t completed in November will resume in February.
Telkom’s existing 1Mbit/s service will become 2Mbit/s; 2Mbit/s lines will double to 4Mbit/s; and 4Mbit/s lines will become 10Mbit/s.
Casper Chihaka, Telkom’s managing executive of wholesale services, says the move forms part of the company’s network transformation programme in which it is “deploying our exchange infrastructure closer to businesses and residential customers – essentially shortening the local loop – which means that we are in a position to increase the performance of ADSL lines”.
Chihaka says this will “provide customers the ability to burst to potentially higher speeds, subject to network conditions”.
“These speed enhancements will contribute to driving fixed broadband penetration in the South African market as it facilitates the access for Internet service providers’ customers to rich media content such as video, music and seamless live streaming,” Chihaka says. — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media