ADSL on its last legs in South Africa

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  By   Daniel Puchert Partially state-owned telecommunications company Telkom announced in its financial results for the year ending 31 March 2025 that its ADSL subscribers had more than halved to under 30,000. According to the company’s operational data, ADSL lines decreased from 64,959 in March 2024 to 29,770. This 54.2% decline highlights that the legacy broadband technology is slowly approaching the end of the road. Telkom’s ADSL business peaked at the end of March 2016 with 1.01 million subscribers — two years after fibre upstart Vumatel  broke ground in Parkhurst . What followed was a sharp decline in Telkom ADSL subscribers. Customers connected to its copper networks decreased by more than 500,000 over the next four years. This was partly driven by Telkom itself, which began actively switching off its copper network in some neighbourhoods. If it did not have fibre in the area, it would offer a “fixed line lookalike” wireless service that ran over its cellular ...

Airlink suspends Johannesburg to Nosy Be flights until June

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Airlink suspended its service between Johannesburg and Nosy Be in Madagascar until June 27, 2021. Picture: supplied.
Airlink suspended its service between Johannesburg and Nosy Be in Madagascar until June 27, 2021. Picture: supplied.

Airlink suspends Johannesburg to Nosy Be flights until June

By Travel Reporter Time of article published Feb 17, 2021

Airlink has decided to suspend its service between Johannesburg in South Africa and Nosy Be in Madagascar until June 27, 2021.

The airline said in a statement that the reason for the suspension is Madagascar's travel restrictions.

Airlink Managing Director and CEO Rodger Foster explained: “We regret the impact this will have for those customers already holding confirmed bookings for the April/ Easter holidays. Unfortunately despite multiple efforts from the lodges on Nosy Be, the Nosy Be Tourism Authority, and Ravinala Airports, we have to date been unable to obtain certainty as to when Madagascar intends to reopen its borders for regional travel. This leaves us with no option but to cancel our planned flights on the route in the interim."

Foster said customers holding tickets can rebook on a future flight at no additional cost.

“We had multiple engagements with the Malagasy authorities. We are hopeful that the borders will reopen in time for the June and July peak South African holiday season and August to October period, which coincides with the return of the whale sharks to the island," added Foster.

Nosy Be has become a top destination for South African travellers. The Indian Ocean island destination offers plenty of activities for adventure-seeking guests, like world-class scuba diving, snorkelling, kayaking, SUP'ing and sport fishing. The area is also famous for its lemurs and its picturesque beaches.

Airlink recently announced a new Cape Town and Walvis Bay route that launches on March 2, 2021.

The new route is Airlink’s third between South Africa and Namibia, with other services linking Cape Town and Windhoek, and flights from Johannesburg to Windhoek and Walvis Bay.

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