Telkom has launched LTE-Advanced, a superfast version of cellular broadband that offers speeds of up to 150Mbit/s, making it the first company in South Africa to do so. Telkom has chosen the Johannesburg suburb of Parkview for its first deployment.
“Since we have 60Mhz of the 2.3Ghz band, we are uniquely placed to launch this in South Africa,” says Attila Vitai, MD of Telkom Mobile. “This really is leading-edge tech delivered first to you by Telkom,” he added.
Telkom demonstrated the LTE-Advanced network at a launch event in Johannesburg on Friday and showed off download speeds of 146Mbit/s, while streaming two HD movies. The company says a 10GB HD movie can be downloaded in eight minutes, a 500MB TV episode in 25 seconds and the service is ideal for lag-free online gaming.
Parkview has been identified as a Telkom “Futurehood” and is the first of over 50 suburbs the company intends connecting to its LTE-Advanced network by March next year. Vitai describes a “Futurehood” as “a place where the possibilities of high speed broadband, meet the specific requirements of the people, homes and businesses across SA”.
Vitai says Telkom’s LTE-Advanced offer is comparable to speeds available over a fibre network and is a compelling alternative to fixed-line connectivity solutions.
“Being a mobile solution, LTE-A does not require a wire-connection that goes into your home and it is completely ‘Plug and Play’,” Vitai says. “LTE-A can turn your home into a fully connected Wi-Fi hotspot allowing for up to 32 devices to be connected simultaneously.”
Telkom’s first LTE-A package includes 100GB of data, at peak speeds of up to 150Mbit/s for R1 399 over a 36 month contract.
“This is just the beginning of Telkom’s super-fast broadband journey and we are excited to deliver this technology across the country in the coming months,” Vitai says.
