\u201cWe have stopped our fibre roll-out into Parkview and Parkhurst,\u201d the head of Telkom\u2019s retail and consumer division, Attila Vitai, told media at a launch event for the network operator\u2019s LTE Advanced (LTE-A) services in Parkview today.<\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t mean that Telkom isn\u2019t rolling out any fibre to the areas, Vitai added, just that it no longer has plans to offer its own fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network there.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve rolled out fibre to our exchanges,\u201d Vitai said, explaining that they wouldn\u2019t be able to offer LTE-A services without fibre backhaul to its wireless network sites.<\/p>\n
Telkom\u2019s revelation comes after the two affluent suburbs announced that they had entered into deals with other fibre network players to build networks in the area.<\/p>\n
Vumatel recently announced that the first homes in Parkhurst had been connected to its network, while Parkview announced that Dark Fibre Africa would be building its fibre network.<\/p>\n
Brian Armstrong, group chief operating officer at Telkom, said that they see LTE and FTTH as complementary products.<\/p>\n
\u201cParkview and Parkhurst were on our network roll-out map two years ago, but there were market developments and we had to respond to them,\u201d Armstrong said to explain why they stopped their FTTH deployments in the suburbs.<\/p>\n
Asked whether Telkom would offer Internet packages on top of Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa\u2019s networks in Parkhurst and Parkview, Vitai said that they are open to the idea.<\/p>\n
He added that the company was already in discussions to offer its retail services on these third-party networks.<\/p>\n
Queried about why they decided to roll out LTE-A in Parkview and Parkhurst first, Armstrong said it was because they believe in competing vigorously.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if this is where the competition is, this is where we will be,\u201d Armstrong said.<\/p>\n
This article was first published on MyBroadband<\/a><\/p>\n Telkom launches 150Mbps LTE Advanced in Joburg<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMore on Telkom<\/h3>\n