South Africa’s fixed-line monopoly Telkom will, with effect from August 1, cut ADSL and data prices — with the entry-level internet access product down to R270 per month, the dual-listed telecommunications group announced on Thursday.
In addition, tariffs for international private leased circuits via submarine cable and satellite will be reduced by 28%.
The company, with less than 70Â 000 broadband subscribers, said this form part of its plan to reduce the cost of speedy internet service and ensure that access barriers are lowered.
This will also help Telkom compete aggressively on the global traffic front, it added.
Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri last month noted that the pace of broadband uptake has been relatively slow in the country. She cited potential investment as one of the upsides yielded by the technology.
Since launching the service in 2002, ADSL’s subscriber penetration level still remains below the 1% mark in a country where tele-density is estimated at 10% or more than 4,5-million landlines, while the number of landlines is set to continue decelerating and hence threaten ADSL user-base growth.
Earlier this year, the dual-listed group launched the HomeDSL 192 entry-level solution for residential customers at R329 while reducing tariffs of its other offerings.
The HomeDSL 192 tariffs are expected to fall by 18% to R270 per month — a flat rate. HomeDSL 384, the middle-level solution for residential customers, is set to be reduced to a flat rate of R359 per month from R449.
The super-fast products HomeDSL 512 and BusinessDSL 512 will fall from R600 per month and R700 per month respectively to R477 per month.
“Reducing the cost of all our ADSL products will pave the way for our existing customers to migrate to more speedy internet access options.
“Equally, this will encourage those who have not yet entered the high-speed internet space to take advantage of our low-access, yet high-speed HomeDSL 192 broadband solution,” Telkom chief sales and marketing officer Nombulelo Moholi said.
The company’s ADSL Self-Install trials are nearing completion and are expected to assist customers in setting up their broadband connections speedily.
Meanwhile, Telkom is awaiting the regulator’s ruling on its broadband offering following public hearings in which telecommunications players derided the company’s tariffs as hefty and uncompetitive.
They also called for lower tariffs in line with global trends and called for an improvement in Telkom’s quality of service.
The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, currently busy designing the new ADSL tariff guidelines, is hopeful that a new framework will be in place in the near future. — I-Net Bridge