Fixed broadband the future, voice calls to go free: Telkom

Telkom’s head of strategy, Miriam Altman, has said that fixed broadband represents the future of the company, and that they expect voice calls to eventually become a free service and are planning accordingly.
Answering questions about Telkom’s strategy to reverse the decline in fixed-lines that is reported in the company’s financial statements year after year, Altman said that a lot of people have migrated to mobile voice.
However, she challenged the notion that fixed-line connections have been outmoded by mobile.
“Some believe that fixed line is an outdated technology and yet it is the technology of the future and acts as the foundation for most telecoms services,” Altman said.
“For example, most mobile services now rely on a fixed network,” she said. “Big data applications, large firms, government and connected homes streaming movies or games will all rely on fixed broadband.”
Altman said that mobile broadband has an important role to play for when people are on the move, but businesses and home users will still rely on fixed broadband connections.
For this reason Telkom is investing heavily in its network – R5-billion per year – and will focus on making its fixed broadband products more compelling, Altman said.