Telkom said on Wednesday that there was a 78.1 percent growth in ADSL subscribers to 255 633, a 14.3 percent growth in the 64 kbit/sec equivalent circuit, and a 22.2 percent growth in internet satellite subscribers in the year to March.
The company's ADSL subscriber growth is targeted to reach 420 000 for the year ending March 2008, with Telkom aiming to achieve ADSL penetration of 15 percent — 20 percent of fixed access lines by 2010/2011.
The fixed line operator also said that the ADSL self-install option has improved the average-time-to-install, coming down from 31 days to 23 days on average where infrastructure is available.
"The self-install option has been utilised by 28 779 customers as at 31 March 2007." Pre-provisioning of the network will further shorten installation times.
In addition, Telkom upgraded its DSL 192 users to a 384 Kbit/s at no additional cost and is now offering four Mbit/s for DSL 1024 customers.
"A broadband demand register will capture and identify areas of growth for future build. Port automation is also designed to improve Telkom's ability to deliver ADSL services faster," it said.
Better quality and speed
The company said that the Do Broadband offering, which includes bundled ADSL access and a Telkom internet account at discounted rates, should stimulate the ADSL demand and provide Telkom customers with the quality, speed and content demanded in South Africa.
Strong data growth is also indicated by a 7.1 percent increase in Internet customers to 305 013. This includes dial-up, ADSL and satellite internet users.
Telkom has a holistic wire-line and wireless approach to broadband. To complement its ADSL rollout countrywide, the company has successfully trialed WiMAX.
Fourteen sites with base stations are currently operational in Pretoria, Cape Town and Durban. A further 57 sites with base stations will be built countrywide.
The increased demand for broadband during the year ended March resulted in strong growth in leased line and other data services revenue of 10.2 percent. Revenue from cellular operator fixed links increased by 21.8 percent as a result of the strong growth of mobile data offerings.
Growth in data revenue
Growth in mobile data revenue is mainly due to data initiatives such as 3G, HSDPA, Vodafone Live, Vodafone Simply, Blackberry and the continued popularity of SMS.
Revenue from managed data networks has increased by 16.3 percent during the year ended March.
Vodacom's data revenue increased by 64 percent to R3.342-billion, of which Telkom's 50 percent share was R1.671-billion, contributing 8.1 percent to mobile operating revenue for Telkom.