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 ...

US e-commerce giant signs deal with South African Post Office

 

E-commerce company Wish has announced a partnership with the South African Post Office (SAPO).

In a shareholder statement on Wednesday (21 April), Wish said it will be working directly with SAPO to create a more consistent and efficient experience for customers in South Africa.

This will include:

  • Average 50% faster transit times;
  • End-to-end tracking visibility and delivery confirmation;
  • Customers to receive bundled shipments for multiple items;
  • SMS and physical notifications on deliveries awaiting collection.

Thomas Chuang, vice president of Operations at Wish, said that the company sees South Africa as an important market. He added that the partnership with SAPO will help the group provide faster time to customer’s doors by 50% or more.

“This is critical to ensuring a positive customer experience and satisfaction and will enable us to better serve our customers in this market,” he said.

Sekano Kgalanyane, head of logistics at the Post Office said that the move will keep the state-owned enterprise relevant and in line with latest e-commerce trends.

He added that the SAPO has improved its tracking system with the implementation of the capability to track international parcels.

“The text message application, which informs customers that their parcels is ready for collection, is automated and customers are constantly made aware to collect items when ready for collection.

“A fleet of more than 1,000 vehicles and outlets across South Africa ensure that parcels rapidly reach their destination,” he said.


Read: Amazon to set up South African headquarters in R4 billion Cape Town development

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