Sentech to go after dial-up market

By Paul Vecchiatto, ITWeb Cape Town correspondent

Cape Town, 22 Jun 2005

State-owned communications group Sentech is planning to go after the dial-up Internet and high-value corporate market this year.

Michelle Potgieter, Sentech`s marketing GM, says that within the next month the group will radically restructure its pricing model, making it cost-effective for dial-up users to use the Sentech MyWireless connection service.

"We are still working out the final details, but this service will be very attractive for the lower end of the market," she says.

As a general rule, the South African consumer Internet market is divided into two price bands. Most Internet service providers supply a basic dial-up service for around R79 per month. Value-added services, that may include various other options such as Microsoft`s Encarta, are priced at about R149 per month.

"The basic dial-up service does not only cost R79 per month. Added to that is the line rental and the cost of the calls. So we are pricing our new service taking that into account, but it should still be cheaper," says Winston Smith, Sentech`s product manager for marketing and sales.

Potgieter says a leased line service aimed at the corporate market will be ready by November and this will compete directly with Telkom`s Diginet offerings.

"The nice thing about this service is that should a company want to increase its bandwidth, only a software update is needed, while a Diginet line often needs hardware alterations as well," Smit says.

Sentech says it is steadily expanding its MyWireless coverage and plans to have the modem integrated into laptop computers, digital cameras and MP3 players. This means that entire suburbs will become "hotspots".

Potgieter says Sentech has completed the appointment of strategic value-added partners who resell its products. They are NoWire in Cape Town, Internet Solutions, Autopage and Nashua Commsco. These companies have the rights to appoint additional resellers should they choose.

"About 80% of our client base comes from these companies," she says.

Smith says there are 5 000 MyWireless subscribers and 64 base stations installed nationally. The latest installation is in Nelspruit in Mpumalanga.