After months of piloting wireless hotspots via the Airports Company (ACSA) and various Mugg & Bean outlets, M-Web is now confident that users will take to this value-add service.
The Internet service provider (ISP) has introduced WiFi at a range of introductory pricing options it says will "minimise barriers to usage". Prices are guaranteed for three months.
Russell Dreisenstock, GM of M-Web Wireless, adds that all Internet users will soon be able to pay for the service with credit cards, and M-Web members will be able to add WiFi to their M-Web account.
"A further subscription offer is available for non-members and a pay-as-you-go model will soon be added."
Subscribers and other users
M-Web subscribers will receive their first 20 WiFi hours free when visiting an M-Web hotspot. Thereafter they will pay R1 per minute. International roaming via service provider IPASS will be priced separately on the M-Web homepage, and subscribers have access to "thousands of international hotspots" using IPASS accounts.
WiFi-only subscribers will pay R150 per month for the first 20 hours and R1 per minute thereafter. Company rates are R109 per account per month (five or more WiFi accounts required) and R1 per minute thereafter.
Any user will soon be able to charge WiFi to a credit card. "For half an hour, it will cost R30. An hour of connectivity will cost R50."
Dreisenstock says 20 hours per month is considered normal use, and as the first 20 hours are free in some instances, customers may get away without paying. He adds that paying R150 as a WiFi-only subscriber is only slightly more than M-Web`s offering of R139 per month for dial-up. Commenting on lesser charges from other ISPs, he comments that, "without getting into that debate, I`d say you get what you pay for".
Worldwide, WiFi access is on average priced at more than twice a dial-up connection, Dreisenstock adds.
Close to the core
Dreisenstock says wireless Internet access sits comfortably with M-Web`s core value proposition of Internet access. "It should not be a standalone business."
As regards the chestnut of which partner gets what share of the revenue - reckoning with location providers, service provider, communications network provider, telecoms incumbent and roaming provider - Dreisenstock says all parties are happy with the arrangement.
"Generating direct revenue is not the central factor underlying all parties` involvement. Location providers are keen to provide a value-add to customers, as are we, and network providers are keen to use their technology in new ways."
Mugg & Bean outlets use a callback connectivity option through Sentech VSAT, and ACSA uses Internet Solutions` connectivity via the Telkom backbone.
M-Web plans to extend hotspot deployment, and is investigating a pay-as-you-go option. "With Intel Centrino chipsets included in new notebooks, it is almost the responsibility of SPs to offer WiFi," he concludes. "It`s a market worth catering to."
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