Telkom’s Internet service provider (ISP) will enforce its Fair Usage Policy (FUP), a move it says is in the spirit of enhancing the Internet experience for all users.
Telkom ISP has always had a FUP in place but has, till now, exercised much leniency in terms of enforcing the stipulations thereof. As a result, the usage of a few users has had a negative impact on the network and on the online experience of fellow users.
Arnold Van Huyssteen, Telkom’s acting managing executive for Product House, says: “Delivering a high-quality broadband experience is becoming increasingly challenging as the trends towards bandwidth intensive applications become more apparent in the everyday lives and businesses of our customers.
“The contention for available network capacity is also growing and our customers are becoming increasingly concerned about fairness and equitable service and this has prompted us to carefully re-think our Bandwidth management policies to the benefit of our entire customer base,” he says.
Telkom’s broadband network is a shared resource, used by all its broadband users. Since networks do not have unlimited capacity, the operator continuously monitors the network and adds capacity when appropriate. As such, it is critical for the Company’s ISP to also innovate on a level that helps ensure that bandwidth is allocated fairly between all its users and applications.
“As an ISP we understand the need to do our part in containing any negative impact on the broadband eco-system as a whole. We will be taking action when certain trends are spotted that may have resulted in a poor customer experience for the average user on our network,” says Van Huyssteen.
