eM&G reporter
Aggressive turf wars are being fought in cyberspace as companies attempt to grab more of the electronic marketplace.
A new twist is Vodacom’s move to become an Internet service provider (ISP). The communications company will be offering three Internet access packages, including a prepaid option.
Vodacom aims to be the largest ISP by the end of the year, so consumers can brace themselves for a Yebo!net Christmas advertising blitz.
Yebo!net offers Internet access for slightly more than half the usual monthly charge of other ISPs. Vodacom is also trading on its previous advertising which has established the brand and imprinted the phrase yebo on the national consciousness.
One of Vodacom’s strategic partners is the Independent Newspaper Group, which will be providing “content packages”. Yebo!net is likely to market news services to subscribers, following the path taken by M- Web with the eM&G, and Times Media Limited with Internet Solutions.
The huge choice on the Internet can make it harder to attract customers, and to keep them. Vodacom can call on its cellphone customer base. Companies such as America OnLine keep customers by “walling them in”. Once on the Internet, customers only use their ISP’s services, allowing the ISPto sell access to its customer base to other companies.