Telkom ADSL adoption up 161%

By Damaria Senne for Telkom

Johannesburg, 15 Nov 2005

Telkom`s fixed line ADSL adoption rate increased by 161% in the six months ending September, bringing Telkom`s ADSL subscriber numbers to 95 290, says CEO Papi Molotsane.

He was speaking at the presentation of Telkom`s six-month interim results in Midrand yesterday. According to Molotsane, the increased penetration rate was as a result of increased uptake of the PC/Internet bundle, launched at the beginning of August.

There has also been a 32% growth in managed data network sites, 31% growth in mobile leased facilities and 73% growth in wholesale Internet leased lines, says Molotsane. As a result, Telkom has enjoyed an 18% growth in data revenue in the period under review, he says.

Low penetration

The fixed line ADSL penetration is so low in SA that Telkom could indicate growth rates of that magnitude, says Johannesburg University lecturer and MyADSL founder, Rudolph Muller. The rate translates to about 6 000 installations per month.

To demonstrate how little Telkom is doing in penetrating the ADSL market, Muller compares Telkom`s installation rates to that of Australia, where he says rates are as high as 100 000 installations per month.

Even taking the economic issues that differentiate SA from Australia into account, Muller says the figures show that Telkom could still do better.

Telkom would put plans in place to aggressively increase ADSL penetration levels to 15% in a three-year period, Molotsane indicated.

In order for Telkom to do that, it would have to increase to 16 000 installations per month, Muller points out.

Telkom`s chief operating officer, Reuben September, spoke about the telco`s plans to introduce a self-install ADSL option for users in order to assist in increasing penetration levels and allowing faster response from Telkom for customers who wish to access the service.

The self-install option is feasible because installation of the service is not a highly technical project, says September. Also, the kind of customer who orders the service usually has Internet access already and is simply migrating from one of Telkom`s other services. As a result, the customer should be able to do the required loading and configuration required to access ADSL services.