South African telecommunications services provider Telkom has announced the expansion of its LTE Advanced (LTE-A) network to an additional 22 suburbs across the country.

In a media release issued by Telkom, the company stated that its network will cover areas in greater Johannesburg, the Western Cape, Kwa-Zulu Natal and Tshwane.

The telecoms operator has pitched its LTE-A service as one that delivers speeds comparable to that experienced over a fibre network and offers a strong alternative to fixed line broadband for high speed connectivity.

The company has also emphasised the 'plug-and-play' feature of this wireless broadband solution and says it can accommodate simultaneous connection of up to 64 wireless devices.

In the statement Attila Vitai, managing director of Telkom Mobile and Consumer, is quoted as saying, "We have received positive feedback from our customers experiencing superfast speeds on Telkom's LTE-A network.

"Telkom is on a journey to deliver superfast broadband on both wireless and fixed lines to cater for the specific needs and requirements of our customers. We have geared ourselves up to be as responsive as possible to what our customers want, be it VDSL, Fibre or LTE-A."

In September 2014 Telkom announced its plans to roll out LTE-A connectivity, as well as its intention to develop the network to ultimately deliver LTE-A peak speeds of 3Gbps.

Telkom's LTE-A technology is said to run on 2.3GHz spectrum. It supports downlink speeds of up to 150Mbps and uplink speeds of up to 25Mbps.