Telkom on Wednesday launched its “uncapped” 4G/LTE fixed-wireless broadband service, offering “unlimited” broadband Internet access for prices starting at R599/month.

An online sale on the Telkom website is offering the packages to customers on a 24-month contract for R599/month for the first 50 customers per base station where the deal is being offered. The next 50 customers pay R699/month, and the following 50 will have to pony up R799/month.

Telkom has promised not to sign up more than 150 customers per base station to ensure a quality experience.

Ordering appears to have got off to a slow start, however, with only a handful of contracts sold by 8am, according to the website.

Telkom is claiming to be the first operator in South Africa to launch uncapped high-speed wireless broadband based on LTE.

The first phase of the SmartBroadband Uncapped High Speed Wireless plan will be available only in selected areas in Gauteng to start. The suburb names have now been revealed.

In Johannesburg’s northern suburbs, they are: Mayfair, Paulshof, River Club, President Ridge, Northcliff, Highlands North, Northmead, Hyde Park, Bryanston, Morningside and Glenhazel.

In the south of the city, the suburbs Telkom has chosen are Protea Glen and Mulbarton, while on the East Rand, it’s Crystal Park, Eastleigh, Sydenham, Selection Park, Linksfield Ridge, Randhart, Bedford Gardens, Benoni, Leachville, Sharon Park and Bonaero Park.

Finally, on the West Rand, Telkom has selected Florida and Noordheuwel.

As part of the promotional offer, customers receive an antenna and installation by Telkom technicians for no extra cost. But they will have to commit to a 24-month contract.

The online sale is initially be focused on selected base stations in Gauteng from 10 June to 10 July and will be rolled out to additional locations in the following months, the company said.

Customers who participate in the online sale after the 150 spots have already been taken will be added to a waiting list.

Telkom has selected areas where it has excess LTE capacity available. Users can expect theoretical download speeds of up to 90Mbit/s down and up to 25Mbit/s up.

Consumers shouldn’t expect a true uncapped experience from the service, however. Telkom has said the SmartBroadband Uncapped Wireless service will offer uncapped data for all traffic types except bandwidth-intensive protocols or applications, which will be capped at 50GB.

The service will be offered at full speeds (with no time limit applied) for all traffic types except bandwidth-intensive protocols or applications that are at full speed between 12am and 6pm if within the 50GB cap.

“Once a subscriber reaches the 50GB cap, the bandwidth-intensive protocols or applications shall be throttled to 128kbit/s speed for the rest of the month. Full speeds shall resume at the beginning of the next calendar month.”