Telkom has abandoned plans, at least in the short term, to deploy fibre to the home in Parkview and Parkhurst after the residents’ associations of the two suburbs chose rival telecommunications providers Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa to build home fibre in the area.

Instead, Telkom on Friday launched a commercial LTE-Advanced network in Parkview and surrounding areas, promising to bring the ultrafast 4G network to more more than 50 suburbs around the country in coming months.

In doing so, Telkom has become the first telecoms operator in South Africa to launch a commercial 4G broadband network using LTE-Advanced technology, offering download speeds of up to 150Mbit/s.

A promotional LTE-A offer unveiled to customers in the Parkview area includes 100GB of data, at peak speeds of up to 150Mbit/s, for R1 399 over a 36-month contract period. TechCentral was able to achieve speeds of above 140Mbit/s when testing the product on Friday.

The company has been able to launch the LTE-A network before its rivals thanks to its access to a large chunk of radio frequency spectrum that is ideally suited for building next-generation 4G networks. Telkom has access to 60MHz in the 2,3GHz band, in which it is using 2x20MHz channels for LTE-A.

Telkom chief operating officer Brian Armstrong says Parkhurst and Parkview have been on the company’s radar for its next-generation network for the past two years.

“Obviously, as we deploy our network, we need to ensure we optimise our returns,” says Armstrong of the decision no longer to build fibre in the two neighbourhoods. “It is still on the long-term roadmap. From a competitive positioning, it’s better to have something we can compete with immediately and also give customers choice.”

He says it will be “interesting” to demonstrate the “relative merits of fibre and LTE” in the area. “It will be a hothouse for high-speed broadband in South Africa.”

Armstrong says Telkom has no short-term plans to open its LTE-A network to resellers in the way it has opened its fixed-line ADSL network to third-party service providers.

“If market conditions change, and it’s better for Telkom to make LTE-A available on a resale basis, we will consider it. Right now, we don’t think our interests are best served.”

Armstrong emphasised that Telkom regards LTE and fibre as complementary products.

Telkom is still deploying fibre to the home in more than 20 suburbs around South Africa, offering speeds of 100Mbit/s.

Telkom has revealed that the following suburbs will get LTE-A in the coming months:

Cape Town: Camps Bay/Bakoven, Century City/Tijgerhof, Claremont, Dalsig (Stellenbosch), Fresnaye, Gardens, Newlands, Oranjezicht, Pinelands, Rondebosch, Rosebank, Sea Point, Tamboerskloof, Three Anchor Bay/Mouille Point, Vredehoek.

Durban: Ballito, Broadway, La Lucia, Umhlanga

Johannesburg: Bryanston, Carlswald, Douglasdale, Gallo Manor, Glensan, Halfway Gardens, Houghton Estate, Hude Park, Illovo, Linden, Lonehill/Pineslopes, Melrose, Melville, Midstream Estate, Morningside, Noordwyk, Parkhurst, Parktown North and Parkview.