Besides a slowdown in Telkom's ADSL numbers over the past couple of years, MWeb believes the demand for ADSL will continue to grow rapidly.
Speaking during a media tour of the Internet service provider's (ISP) data centre facilities in Cape Town yesterday, Jaco Muller, GM for MWeb Networks, said there is still an opportunity for the fixed-line, mainly because of changes in user behaviour, as consumers demand rich media content.
When Telkom announced its annual results this year, the latest monthly growth proved to be the slowest since 2004/05.
Aside from also facing growing competition from mobile operators and fixed wireless broadband providers, Muller pointed out that average ADSL usage has increased 20-fold per month since 2010.
However, the ISP also revealed that problems that frequently affect Telkom in terms of slowing fixed-line penetration are also an issue for MWeb.
Muller also revealed that MWeb is the largest ISP in SA, with a customer base of over 300 000, of which over 65% are on uncapped ADSL; 90% of all new sign-ups go straight to uncapped ADSL; over 70 000 are SMEs; and over 65 000 are unique monthly online gaming users.
He also pointed out that, this year, MWeb completed a four-phase upgrade and expansion of its network, which will directly enhance the Internet experience for its customers. He claimed MWeb's network is now one of the largest and fastest in the country.
"MWeb remains focused on driving change in the industry and removing barriers to Internet connectivity and services to positively impact its customers and the broader South African Internet landscape," Muller noted.
"Six petabytes of data per month is consumed by MWeb's ADSL base. That is the equivalent of more than two million HD movies, or 13 years of HD movies playing continuously. The MWeb mail platform receives seven million inbound e-mails per day, and sends four million outbound e-mails from our subscribers. The MWeb mail platform blocks 22 million spam attempts per day."
According to the latest report from World Wide Worx, currently, only one in five South Africans have Internet access, said Muller, adding that MWeb foresees this number improving to two in 10 by 2014 and the demand for ADSL continuing to grow rapidly.
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