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MWeb, OpenWeb cut ADSL costs

Lauren Kate Rawlins
By Lauren Kate Rawlins, ITWeb digital and innovation contributor.
Johannesburg, 03 Sept 2015
Two ISPs cut ADSL prices this week to under R100pm for a 1Mbps line.
Two ISPs cut ADSL prices this week to under R100pm for a 1Mbps line.

Internet service providers MWeb and OpenWeb this week cut ADSL costs, to under R100 per month for a 1Mbps line.

With effect from yesterday, MWeb is offering two new uncapped ADSL products: a 1Mbps uncapped line will cost R79 and an 8Mbps uncapped line R439.

"Our new uncapped ADSL products form part of a series of changes we are making as Telkom introduced and reintroduced new line speeds back into the market to give users more options and the opportunity to access the Internet via ADSL," says Carolyn Holgate, MWeb product, sales and marketing GM.

OpenWeb is offering a 1Mbps uncapped line for R89 and a 20Mbps uncapped line for R699. The lines have no thresholds and shaping is only applied when the network is busy.

OpenWeb says its offers guarantee unshaped access daily between midnight and 7am.

ICT analyst Adrian Schofield says the network providers have made the investment and now need to attract sufficient customers to generate revenue. "With the competition from mobile services, it's good for the consumers who would like to realise the benefits of ADSL connections.

"The wholesale cost of the network offers the opportunity for profit from a high number of retail consumers attracted by low prices, provided they are attracted in sufficient volumes to make the small margins viable. If the network owners do not increase revenues, they will find it hard to generate sufficient return on investment."

He says customers with "shaky" 2G or 3G signal will want a fixed-line and will be attracted by the low prices, "especially if you then attach multiple devices via WiFi".

"However, these speeds are still very low in global terms, and the growth in applications and services that require fast streaming of high data volumes may soon have the consumers tempted by these prices asking for the higher priced products."

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