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 ...
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Richard Branson, on his Virgin Galactic rocket plane, becomes first billionaire to get to space
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Virgin Galactic flight carrying Richard Branson blasts off
Richard Branson won the “billionaire space race” on Sunday — launching himself and five others more than 50 miles above the earth to the point of weightlessness in his own Virgin Galactic rocket.
“It was the complete experience of a lifetime,” the beaming British entrepreneur, who will turn 71 in a week, said after shaking the hand of another member of the crew. “Now looking down at the spaceport, congratulations to everybody for creating such a beautiful plane and all the hard work for getting us this far.”
Branson set off with five employees a little after 8:30 a.m. local time from Spaceport America in New Mexico, about 180 miles south of Albuquerque.
Sir Richard Branson is weightless in space on his Virgin Galactic passenger rocket plane.Virgin Galactic
Less than an hour after takeoff, the VSS Eve plane released its rocket at an altitude of 53 miles — further than the 50-mile boundary considered by the US to be the boundary of space.
The crew was then able to unstrap to experience a few minutes of weightlessness before gliding back around 9:40 a.m. to the runway.
A crowd gathered at the tarmac cheered as the plane landed and the crew disembarked, with some spectators jumping into the air and hugging.
Branson, who served as a mission specialist, threw his hands up in the air to cheer the landing before jogging down the tarmac for an emotional reunion with his wife, children and grandchildren.
Virgin Galactic’s sub-orbital flight made history.
“Like most kids, I have dreamt of this moment since I was a kid and honestly nothing could prepare you for the view from space,” Branson said in a ceremony with the crew to receive their wings after landing.
Branson had joined the flight to test the customer experience for future space tourists.
“Initially, I thought testing the customer experience was a little bit of an excuse to get me on it. It wasn’t… It’s so great to get out there and test the customer experience,” he said. “You get lists and lists of the little things and it’s the little details that matter.”
Branson wasn’t due to fly until later this summer but moved up his plans after fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos announced that he would be taking his own rocket into space from West Texas on July 20.
He has denied, however, that he was trying to beat the Blue Origin founder.
Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity crew in zero gravity Sunday.Vigin Galactic
The Virgin test flight is the first mission for the company in which all six seats were fully occupied to go to the edge of space.
“You’re late! Come on! Let’s get suited up,” Beth Moses, Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor, could be heard saying to him.
Before the launch, Branson also a photo of himself with another billionaire space tourism entrepreneur, SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who was there to cheer him on.
The Virgin test flight is the first mission for the company in which all six seats were fully occupied to go to the edge of space.
“Great to start the morning with a friend. Feeling good, feeling excited, feeling ready,” Branson wrote on Twitter.
Bezos, the third mogul in the “billionaire space race,” wished Branson luck on Instagram.
“Wishing you and the whole team a successful and safe flight tomorrow. Best of luck!” he wrote.
The flight was intended to promote Virgin Galactic, which had already has secured more than 600 reservations for its space tourism voyages, with tickets initially running $250,000 apiece.
The exterior of the VSS Unity, which Richard Branson took into space.Abaca/Sipa USA
Branson invited R&B singer Khalid to perform and comedian Stephen Colbert to host a live stream of the mission.
The launch was the company’s 22nd test flight of its SpaceShipTwo system, and its fourth crewed mission beyond Earth’s atmosphere.
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