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[Johannesburg, 13 April 2005] -
Telkom says it is perturbed that the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) is conducting an inquiry into the functional characteristics of the ADSL service.Speaking this morning at the start of ICASA's hearings on the cost and service restrictions on Telkom's ADSL offerings, Raveshna Robert, specialist of regulatory and public policy at Telkom, told the ICASA panel that Telkom was concerned it was being singled out.“Telkom is concerned the inquiry is focusing on a specific broadband offering rather than on broadband services in the telecommunications industry,” she said, adding that broadband was also offered by other companies, including Sentech and Vodacom.However, councillor Mamodupi Mohlala, who is chairing the panel, said the regulator had received a “substantial number of complaints”, which led it to undertake an inquiry in terms of Section 27 of the Telecommunications Act.She said ICASA had received 446 submissions by the closing date.Telkom's submission states that the most contentious issue relating to its ADSL offering is the bandwidth capping of the service. “As of the launch of the product, Telkom's ADSL has been limited to a basic Internet access monthly cap of 3GB.“Although the implementation of the cap was introduced later, the capping of 3GB was always a condition of the product offering applying to all ADSL subscribers and enforced by all ISPs providing the service.Worldwide trend“It should be noted that ADSL is a shared access to the Internet and an increase in the subscriber base therefore results in slower Internet download speeds on the international links, which is the key reason for capping. Capping of the service offering ensures customers enjoy the true ADSL experience of fast Internet.”Roberts told the panel that Telkom's shaped ADSL offering was targeted at small business and the higher end of the residential market with a moderate volume of Internet traffic. The unshaped offering provides a service in which all protocols share the available bandwidth equally.“Telkom's ADSL service was never intended for bandwidth-hungry applications, such as gaming or online trading,” according to the submission, which also includes peer-to-peer networks among the “abusers” of the technology.“Such applications use large bandwidth, hence affects the bandwidth that is available for usage by other customers. The 3GB cap has been introduced to ensure heavy bandwidth users do not adversely affect ADSL users.”Telkom's submission states further that capping has become a worldwide trend and has become the rule rather than the exception.Roberts added that an independent survey by Markinor showed that 84% of residential users said Telkom ADSL met their expectations, while the figure for business users was 87%.Steven White, Telkom executive of product development, told the panel that the average usage per customer was far below the 3GB cap, with the average being about 2.2GB, including the usage by “abusers”.The public hearings are continuing until Monday.Related story: Telkom must justify ADSL expense
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