Mobile internet speeds of 3 Gbps could become a reality for certain suburbs in South Africa.

This is after telecoms giant Telkom has announced plans to start rolling out its LTE Advanced (LTE-A) connectivity in more than 50 suburbs by year-end with speeds, that at first, are expected to reach peaks of 200 Mbps.

The suburbs are situated in the provinces of Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal and the Western Cape.

Meanwhile, Telkom chief operating officer (COO), Dr Brian Armstrong, says Telkom plans having the first areas connected during December.

"Telkom has started its LTE-A journey and is currently upgrading its network to offer customers peak speeds of over 200 Mbps, with a view to developing its network to ultimately deliver LTE-A peak speeds of 3 Gbps," says the company in a statement.

Armstrong is quoted in the Telkom statement as saying that LTE-A internet speeds " are comparable to those offered over fibre connections."

"Our LTE-A platform runs on the 2.3GHz spectrum, which is unique to Telkom," says Armstrong.

"The spectrum allows us to offer efficient, high quality and stable LTE-A technology, to our customers," he notes.

South Africa's biggest mobile network Vodacom became the first operator to offer LTE in South Africa in 2012. Rivals such as MTN and Telkom soon followed with their own LTE services.