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 ...

Giant sinkholes leave roads disfigured in Gauteng and Western Cape

 10 May 2021 - 13:56

A metro police officer demonstrates the severity of the damage to the road in Soweto. Both lanes have been closed and motorists are using the Rea Vaya lane.
A metro police officer demonstrates the severity of the damage to the road in Soweto. Both lanes have been closed and motorists are using the Rea Vaya lane.
Image: Twitter: Joburg Metro Police Department (JMPD)

Collapsing infrastructure and heavy downpours have led to the closure of two major roads in Gauteng and the Western Cape.

The Johannesburg Roads Agency has announced the closure of a section of Klipspruit Valley Road in Soweto due to a sinkhole.

The agency said in a statement that stormwater infrastructure had collapsed, causing the road to cave in. Two lanes were affected.

“Plans to repair the stormwater and road infrastructure are under way and further developments will be communicated in due course,” it said, adding that traffic had been diverted to the Rea Vaya Bus lane. 

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Motorists in Johannesburg have also reported a sinkhole on the M1 north just after Booysens but the road has not been closed yet.

Some roads were washed away after heavy downpours lashed parts of the Western Cape last week.

The rain saw some residents being evacuated from their homes. The road linking Robertson to Bonnievale collapsed in the Langeberg municipal area.

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