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 ...

I gave it my utmost: Natasha Joubert on her Miss Universe performance

 

Beauty queen hopes she made SA proud despite not placing in the competition

17 May 2021 - 14:21BY TONI JAYE SINGER
Miss Universe SA Natasha Joubert has congratulated the winner and runners-up in the 69th Miss Universe pageant.
Miss Universe SA Natasha Joubert has congratulated the winner and runners-up in the 69th Miss Universe pageant.
Image: Supplied/Miss SA

SA’s Miss Universe hopeful Natasha Joubert has extended her congratulations to the victor of this year’s pageant, Andrea Meza from Mexico, saying she is a “worthy winner”.

“Andrea is going to be a wonderful Miss Universe at a time when we need it the most,” she said.

Though Joubert was hoping to inherit the crown from the outgoing queen Zozibini Tunzi  to secure coveted back-to-back wins for Mzansi, she was knocked out of the competition when the Top 21 were announced during the pageant’s finale on Sunday.

“I knew going into the competition that I had big shoes to fill and I gave it my utmost,” Joubert said. “I hope, even though I didn’t get a placing, that I did SA proud.

“I want to thank everyone for their wonderful support. The Miss Universe experience will be something I will never forget.”

“We are incredibly proud of Natasha and how she represented us and the country on the world stage,” said Stephanie Weil, CEO of the Miss SA Organisation.

“We look forward to welcoming her home where her Miss Universe SA journey will continue.”

Weil was not alone in praising Joubert’s performance, which she called “remarkable from start to finish”. Many fans have been quick to express their support for the beauty queen on social media.

Here’s a snapshot of the reactions:

• Catch a repeat of the 69th Miss Universe pageant on 1 Magic (DStv channel 103) at 9.30pm on Monday.


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