Telkom has expanded its LTE Advanced (LTE-A) network to an additional 22 suburbs across South Africa. LTE-A is the next evolution of high-speed wireless broadband and can theoretically support peak speeds of up to 1Gbps.
The LTE-A expansion will cover areas in greater Johannesburg, the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Tshwane. The size of Telkom’s LTE-A network is unrivalled anywhere in Africa. Additionally, Telkom is one of the earliest adopters of the LTE-A technology in the world and the first in South Africa.
“We have received positive feedback from our customers experiencing superfast speeds on Telkom’s LTE-A network,” says Attila Vitai, MD of Telkom Mobile and Consumer. “Expanding our network is key to our mission of delivering world-class products and services to our customers.”
“Telkom is on a journey to deliver super-fast broadband on both wireless and fixed lines to cater for the specific needs and requirements of our customers. We have geared ourselves up to be as responsive as possible to what our customers want, be it VDSL, Fibre or LTE-A,” says Vitai.
Telkom’s LTE-A speeds are comparable to speeds available over a fibre network and offer a compelling alternative to fixed line broadband for high speed connectivity. LTE-A is a super-fast wireless broadband solution that does not require a wire-connection to go into your home. It is completely plug and play. LTE-A turns your home into a fully connected Wi-Fi hotspot allowing for up to 64 wireless devices to be connected simultaneously.
Telkom’s LTE-A technology runs on the 2,3GHz spectrum, which is unique to Telkom. The spectrum allows Telkom to offer efficient, high quality and stable LTE-A technology to customers. Telkom’s LTE-A wireless broadband service current network configuration supports downlink speeds of up to 150Mbps.
Telkom started its LTE-A journey in September when it upgraded its network and was able to demonstrate peak speeds of over 380 Mbps at the MyBroadband Conference in October 2014.