Business Day reports that a free Internet service provider (ISP) is testing its service in SA and will officially launch next month. The franchise will be backed by X-Stream, a UK-based free provider, and use its software.
The newspaper quotes company MD David le Roux as saying the new player can break even in 10 months if 5% of available advertising is sold.
Advertising will be targeted at a specific demographic group based on information users will provide. The same space can be sold to different advertisers who want to reach specific groups.
The free ISP model has created a lot of interest due to its seeming success in Britain. Operators there gain part of their revenue from telephone networks, which pay part of the cost of the dial-in call to the ISP. The local Telkom monopoly makes that impossible in SA though, and X-Stream will be reliant on advertising income only.
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