While undersea cable Seacom continues to undergo repairs, competitors are swarming to lure away its vulnerable and disconnected customers. But it remains to be seen whether this will promote competition in the industry.
“I definitely think there could be a positive spin-off of the fault in the form of enhanced competition, especially as ISPs [Internet service providers] ensure their restoration backhaul plans are more automated, and their primary and secondary bandwidth is more evenly distributed between the alternative cable systems,” notes BMI-TechKnowledge research director Brian Neilson.
The Seacom cable failed on 6 July and the operator recently announced it is unlikely to be up before 22 July.
Opportunists emerge
Vodacom's Gateway Communications has begun a marketing campaign promoting its Internet offerings, emphasising that, in the event of a cable outage, a customer's network would remain on, using resilient capacity.
Reports have also surfaced that Telkom has been cold calling Seacom's customers to offer its SAT-3 cable as an alternative. Telkom says it will not comment on its marketing strategy.
Local ISPs have been scrambling for connectivity alternatives, many forced to rely on Telkom's more expensive offering. This is because SAT-3 is currently the only other cable alterative available.
Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, argues that it is for this reason that Seacom's latest outage will not really promote competition in the market. “While we have seen an increase in marketing activities in the industry, it is only from Telkom or Telkom's customers reselling Telkom,” he argues.
The Seacom outage, argues Goldstuck, highlights that having only one additional player in the industry may have increased competition, but has certainly not yet opened the market.
For the market to be truly competitive it would need multiple sources of connectivity, he opines.
Only with the Eastern African Submarine Cable System (Eassy) due in the next few weeks and the West African Cable System due next year, will SA see a more open and competitive market, offers Goldstuck.
Neilson concurs, saying that when Eassy lands, deals may be struck between it and Seacom to back each other up.
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ISPs scramble for connectivity
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