MWeb's wireless component will be terminated tomorrow, as the company switches off its lingering wireless structure, consisting of remnants from the company's 2007 WiMax trials.
According to general manager of MWeb Business, Andre Joubert, the move comes as a recent review of the business brought to light that its wireless offering, a marginal part of company's services, was not significant enough to sustain.
The decision to abandon its wireless network was taken at the end of March, and customers were informed at the time. “It is essentially a strategic move. We reviewed the business with a fine toothcomb and decided to shift all of our energy and resources to MWeb Business's core connectivity services.”
Joubert says, commercially, the Internet service provider's (ISP's) wireless network has always been extraneous, existing primarily as a “last resort” or backup service for a handful of customers who had no other option. “The problem is, in order to make a product meaningful, you need to have hundreds of high sites, not just a few.”
The less than 20 customers that made use of MWeb's wireless service, says Joubert, have been migrated to alternative fixed-line products. “Some users have moved to Teraco and now connect via the centre to our fibre.”
He says MWeb Business is not leaving the wireless sector altogether, but is rather sticking to its knitting, with focus on its core business - fixed-line solutions. “We will still work with other providers to make the necessary solutions available.”
The ISP began trialling a WiMax service in 2007, serving approximately 1 000 users in Cape Town and Gauteng. When the Independent Communications Authority of SA refused to extend its trial licence beyond January 2008 the company terminated the trials, but continued to use the existing infrastructure for last mile access.
At the time, Anton Gaylard, then new business development manager of MWeb Connect, said a WiMax licence would see the ISP “going a long way” in terms of future development in the business space.
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