MWeb ISP [Internet service provider] is not offering its clients an upgrade to Telkom's 10Mbps offering, as it has reservations about Telkom's core network and the copper quality over the last 50 miles, says MWeb ISP CEO Derek Hershaw.
On 13 August, Telkom announced it would increase the speed of its fastest DSL offering to 10Mbps. However, the rider is that this will only be offered in areas that have the suitable technology at their exchanges to support the upgrade.
“Our customers most definitely want higher speeds. They want to download videos and other Web applications, but unfortunately, that high-speed offering appears to be limited to exchanges that have Metro Ethernet,” Hershaw says.
Hershaw says recent comments by MWeb Group CEO Rudi Jensen, that government should give the Universal Services and Access Fund to Telkom so it can maintain its copper cables, is part of the need to improve infrastructure.
He says that while MWeb has some of its own networks, it is still dependent on Telkom for last-mile access, which is copper-based.
“Copper still has some legs to it. It can be tweaked so that access speeds of up to 40Mbps can be obtained. That is 20 times the average used by most South African Internet subscribers,” Hershaw says.
He notes that government has a major role in encouraging the rollout of broadband infrastructure, and if it had to stick to its policy of doing so, then it will go a long way to bridging the digital divide.
Half uncapped
MWeb ISP is part of online services company MWeb, which - in turn - is part of the Naspers stable, and was founded in 1999. It currently has one of the largest slices of SA's Internet home and small office user space.
It has more than 160 000 ADSL subscribers and, according to Hershaw, more than half have signed up for its uncapped service that was launched in March. MWeb has a total of 320 000 fixed-line subscribers, plus another 30 000 3G/HSDPA customers.
“Our service is truly uncapped. We do offer shaped and unshaped options, but there really is no limit to the bandwidth usage,” he says. “What's more, we have found that users save as the pricing goes down and they plough it back into paying for higher speeds.”
He says those subscribers using speeds of 512Kbps are now upping their speeds right up to 4Mbps.
“So there is demand for higher and higher speeds and this will fundamentally change the Internet use by South Africans,” Hershaw says.
Before the advent of uncapped downloading, South African consumers were using their Internet connections for banking, browsing, and online shopping. But now, Hershaw believes that with faster speeds, video and services such as IPTV will become huge demand drivers.
National blockage
While SA's international connectivity has been improving with prices coming down, it is the national network, or rather, its constraints, that have been a major limiting factor.
Hershaw says the international connectivity costs have come down since the landing of Seacom undersea cable on the east coast of Africa. MWeb, he says, is probably the cable's biggest customer.
“We are always looking for ways to improve national connectivity. We are talking with all the players, including Broadband Infraco, Dark Fibre Africa, Telkom and others to increase the national footprint and further lower the cost and quality of cost the end-user,” he says.
Fibre-optic to the home remains a pipe dream for many South Africans and, while MWeb would ideally like to see it happen, Hershaw says the cost factor still weighs against such an event.
Embarrassingly behind
“We are seeing services, such as fibre-optic to the home, being offered in other countries, such as Kenya, and SA is falling embarrassingly behind,” he says.
While fibre to the home remains elusive, Hershaw believes the quickest way to roll out broadband services to under-serviced areas is through wireless technology.
He says this is an important distinction. “In our major-metro/metro-urban areas, fixed-line has to be the way to go - either ADSL or fibre. But in the rural and under-serviced areas, the most cost-effective and quickest way to get Internet penetration will be via wireless.”
Hershaw points to MWeb's Soweto wireless service. “In Soweto, we had an experimental WiMax licence, with about 100 subscribers, and more than 80 of them asked for it to continue after the trial was completed. That service is still in place today, some two years after the trial was successfully concluded,” Hershaw says.
Looking to the future, Hershaw says convergence is definitely going to happen and consumers can expect a time when their telephone, Internet, and TV view will all happen on one billing system and over one broadband connection.
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