Openserve's Althon Beukes on why Telkom is launching 'naked ADSL'

Loading player...
Telkom announced earlier this week that its wholesale division, Openserve, is launching a new product for Internet service providers that means consumers are no longer required to buy a copper line from Telkom’s retail division.
The move, known colloquially as "naked ADSL", is one that has long been requested from consumers who don't want a landline voice service but have been frustrated by the fact that it was a requirement when buying a copper-based fixed-line broadband service from Telkom.
Openserve CEO Althon Beukes spoke to TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod about the new product, known as Openserve Pure Connect. He explained why, after so many years of agitation from consumers, Telkom has finally decided to offer "naked ADSL" through its ISP partners.
"I guess you can say it's long overdue," Beukes said. "We have seen in the last few years that there is still a demand for our copper broadband services and hence we have now simplified the value proposition because it is a very cost-effective and reliable way to connect."
In the podcast, Beukes explains what the announcement means for the longevity of Telkom's copper access network, and why the company will continue to decommission copper in areas where fibre is deployed and where it no longer makes financial sense to continue to support the technology.
30 Apr 2020 English South Africa Technology · Business

Other recent episodes

TCS | Frogfoot sees bigger fibre deals coming

Frogfoot plans to keep buying smaller fibre network operators in South Africa’s suburbs as the market consolidates, but CEO Shane Chorley stopped short of ruling out a sale of the business. “I’d be ignorant to say that we would ignore any offer,” Chorley said on the latest episode of the…
8 Oct 40 min

Meet the CIO | Vodacom’s Mohamed Sami on the agentic future

Mohamed Sami, group chief information officer at Vodacom, says autonomous AI agents that resolve customer problems without handing them to a human are the next big shift in customer experience – and that it is closer than many think. Speaking on TechCentral’s Meet the CIO podcast series, brought to you…
5 Oct 44 min

TCS | Norrsken22’s Lexi Novitske on how China is winning African tech

Chinese companies have built their position in African technology one layer at a time – first phones and telecoms equipment, then fintech and now the AI models that local start-ups build on. American private capital, meanwhile, is pulling back. Lexi Novitske, general partner at Norrsken22, thinks US investors will regret…
1 Oct 28 min

TCS | Dominic White and Adam Ely on AI agents going rogue

AI agents are no longer a thought experiment for security teams. They are breaking out of test environments, hacking real companies and, according to one of our guests, already going rogue inside large businesses. In this episode of the TechCentral Show, TechCentral deputy editor Fanie van Rooyen talks to Dominic…
29 Sep 1 hr 26 min

TCS | Octotel’s Trevor van Zyl on the fibre merger question

Octotel CEO Trevor van Zyl joins the TechCentral Show to talk about where South Africa’s fibre market goes next – including a potential merger with MetroFibre Networx. Van Zyl told TechCentral that Octotel and MetroFibre Networx are assessing a combination that would create the country’s third-largest fibre network operator, with…
16 Sep 25 min