TELKOM has agreed to include some members of the Internet Service Providers Association (Ispa) into its high speed broadband trials, the fixed-line operator said on Friday.
Last month Ispa heavily criticised Telkom for its decision not to allow its members to participate in the trial to test digital subscriber line (DSL) services of 20 megabits per second (Mbps) and 40Mbps.
The association claimed he trial would provide a competitive advantage to Telkom’s subsidiary, Telkom Internet, allowing it to obtain knowledge of the new services not available to its competitors while gaining market share in the highly competitive market.
Telkom decided not to include the organisation’s members in its trials, citing technical issues and the need to "balance inclusion against their desired outcomes."
Telkom said following its discussions on Friday that Ispa, MWeb, Internet Solutions, WebAfrica and Cybersmart together with Telkom Internet will participate in the pilot. This means that certain of the other ISPs customers will now be eligible to experience the higher speeds for the duration of the pilot, said Telkom. The pilot will run until the end of January 2013.
Telkom’s new broadband network will offer far greater download speeds, which will eradicate the time-wasting buffering of YouTube videos to which South African internet users have become accustomed.
The pilot will also serve to validate and test service fulfillment and assurance processes, assess field technical and operational readiness and evaluate the customer experience at a set service configuration.
The programme, unveiled by Telkom earlier this month, will be piloted in Benmore Gardens, Fourways and Waterkloof in Gauteng; Durban North in Kwa-Zulu Natal and Durbanville in the Western Cape.
Managing Director of Telkom Wholesale and Networks Bashier Sallie said the parties have "agreed on key conditions that will ensure the original intent and timelines of the pilot are met."
Co-chair of Ispa, Jaap Scholten said: "Ispa is very pleased that at the end of this meeting, a "win win" outcome was achieved wherein four of our members will be participating in the pilot. Telkom is currently finalising the participating criteria with these ISPs."
Mr Sallie said interest from the industry "is a key barometer of demand for truly differentiated broadband in the country.
"The industry recognises the step-change potential of Telkom’s plans to revamp our broadband capability and the need to have aggressive time-lines on the trial duration with serious intent make the new high speed broadband services commercially available as soon as possible," he said.
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