ADSL prices continue to plummet

Many of South Africa’s major ADSL providers, including MWEB, Internet Solutions, Web Africa, Afrihost, Axxess and Cybersmart, have slashed their ADSL data prices after Telkom’s wholesale ADSL (IPConnect) rate cuts in April.
Web Africa was the first Internet Service Provider (ISP) to announce ADSL price cuts after Telkom’s wholesale rate reduction, when it announced a massive increase in blended data for all its ADSL Home Connect users on 1 Aril 2012.
FNB Connect followed suit on 10 April, when it announced it will be increasing the free monthly ADSL data bundle of its subscribers from 2GB to 5GB.
One of the biggest surprises came when MWEB cut the price of its 1Mbps uncapped ADSL data accounts from R299 per month to R199 per month. MWEB basically said that they now consider 1Mbps as an entry-level ADSL speed, and called on Telkom to increase 384kbps speeds to 1Mbps as soon as possible.
Other service providers were quick to respond, and Internet Solutions, Axxess, Afrihost and Web Africa all changed the price of their uncapped ADSL products as well.
However, the massive ADSL price cuts and data boosts are not at an end. Afrihost is expected to unveil its new products this week, while Cybersmart will launch its first uncapped ADSL products this month.
With the affordable ADSL data prices, many industry players have now called on Telkom to cut ADSL access (aka ADSL line rental) prices to make the total pricing more affordable and boost uptake. The call for a data-only ADSL product (Naked ADSL) is also gaining momentum.
The following list provides an overview of the main ADSL developments over the last few weeks.
- 1 April 2012 – ADSL IPC price cuts
- 1 April 2012 – Massive ADSL value boost by Web Africa
- 10 April 2012 – FNB 5GB free data
- 17 April 2012 – MWEB cuts uncapped ADSL prices
- 18 April 2012 – 10Mbps uncapped ADSL for R1,649
- 18 April 2012 – Afrihost boosts ADSL value
- 19 April 2012 – Axxess cuts uncapped ADSL prices, launches 10Mbps product
- 25 April 2012 – ADSL price cuts and data boost from Internet Solutions
- 4 May 2012 – Web Africa slashes business uncapped ADSL prices
- Planned – Aggressive Afrihost ADSL price cuts coming soon
- Planned – New Cybersmart “high quality” uncapped ADSL service