MWEB describes its new R145 per month 1GB service as its "killer ADSL offering" as it fills a niche for home and small businesses not catered for in product ranges from Telkom and other Internet service providers (ISPs).
The country`s largest dial-up ISP is now making a concerted effort to convert as many of its current users to ADSL, with products ranging from a 1GB, 192Kbps offering at R145 per month, plus a Telkom line rental of R270, to a 3GB, 384Kbps line at R299 per month plus a Telkom rental of R359.
The 12-month contracts include 300 monthly minutes of wireless connectivity with access to MWEB hotspots through its iPass service.
The basic offering is priced the same as MWEB`s premium dial-up service, excluding the Telkom line rental, but the dial-up service has to add on call charges. Subscribers have to provide their own modems (available from MWEB at R99) and buy their own WiFi PC cards.
Although MWEB has already advertised the service, it will only become operational from the beginning of November to coincide with Telkom`s new ADSL hard cap policy.
"No one is offering any ADSL product in the 1GB range, which we believe is sufficient for most home users and small business needs," says Natalie Thayer, GM of MWEB`s Home Division.
According to Thayer, the service will include e-mail and SMS notification when a user gets to 50%, 70% and 90% of the bandwidth allocation. If more capacity is needed, a "booster" option provides an extra 1GB for R99, or an extra 3GB for R250.
"This is to help people manage the 'hard cap` that Telkom will impose on its ADSL offerings in November, which will mean that people will be cut off entirely once they pass their limit," Thayer says.
Telkom`s ADSL offering currently has a 'soft cap` that means people only lose their international roaming ability once their allocation is exceeded.
Thayer says this is a low margin offering from MWEB. "However, we do see the necessity of it as we would rather have our dial-up users convert to an ADSL offering from us."
The home/small office Internet connectivity market is growing slowly in SA, and Thayer says the limited wholesale offerings means it will continue to do so for some time.
"We do not know what Telkom`s answer to this offering will be. However, they are constantly in contact with us about how it is doing," she says.
Telkom ADSL requests have a six- to nine-week waiting period, but Thayer says MWEB will help its customers "push" their applications with Telkom.
Share
