 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Telkom forging ahead with NGN2007-05-23 Telkom is slowly losing its monopolistic grip on the local telecoms environment, but they are not sitting back allowing competition to eat away at their market share. Speaking at the recent Futurex-Computer Society of South Africa Conference, Steve Lewis, Telkom's executive for technical product development, said that the company is making steady progress at building and implementing its New Generation Network (NGN). Telkom’s initiatives incorporate various new technologies, including the introduction of ADSL2/2+, WiMax and Metro Ethernet. Lewis said that Telkom is anticipating massive growth in the amount of bandwidth on their network. He said that bandwidth demands doubled in the last two years, and that it is expected to double every 6 to 12 months in future. These additional demands can put strain on a network, but Lewis pointed out that fiber can support as many as 80 colors in a single fiber strand, each supporting data rates as great as 10 Gbps or even 40 Gbps. He said that Telkom is already upgrading their fiber network capacity, and that this will make services like Fiber to the Premise (FTTX) possible. More consumer products Telkom recently launched their DoBroadband and DoBroadband Closer offerings, which are a true one-price broadband and voice offering. This looks like only the first step in the direction Telkom wants to take. Lewis said that they are currently working on various initiatives in the broadband space, including a new generation VoIP service. This service will be a quality of service voice product which will allow for the replacement of ‘multiple landlines’, and is anticipated to be completed before the end of 2007. Telkom is also looking at launching their IPTV service, but is dependant on a broadcasting license from ICASA to enter this market. Competition arriving Telkom’s competitors are also gearing up and are forging ahead full force with their own voice and broadband services. Telkom however remains the dominant player in the local telecoms space, as basically every call or piece of data being transmitted in South Africa is carried by a part of their network somewhere along the way. And it seems that Telkom is quietly readying for Neotel and other players by upgrading their network and developing new innovative services. Competition will however be the acid test as to how effectively Telkom will be able to adapt to a fast changing and increasingly competitive telecoms environment. Source: My Broadband |
Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Terms Of Service | Sitemap