MWeb boosts ADSL arsenal | ITWeb

By Leigh-Ann Francis
Johannesburg, 30 Jun 2010

Local Internet service provider (ISP) MWeb has extended its ADSL market shake-up to its business unit, unveiling a bonded ADSL offering it claims is up to 70% cheaper than the nearest comparable offering on the market.

This announcement follows the recent unveiling of the ISP's range of uncapped ADSL offerings for consumers and business.

Now, in the latest round of an aggressive market strategy, MWeb's bonded ADSL entails combining up to four ADSL lines into a single router that creates a single channel, high-speed link, effectively multiplying the speed of each line by the number of bonded lines.

The benefits of such an offering will be particularly attractive to small to medium-size business, explains BMI-Techknowledge analyst Brian Neilson, because it offers an alternative to leased lines.

“As ADSL services become more highly specified, they can perform a similar functional role to leased lines of lower 'ticket speeds', despite their asymmetrical nature,” he explains.

Neilson notes, however, that it would be necessary to compare bonded ADSL solutions to a single 10Mbps ADSL service from Telkom, which may also perform adequately.

Telkom has been trialling its 10Mbps ADSL service for some time now, but due to a network freeze during the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup will likely only introduce the product after the tournament.

MWeb, however, is taking a very aggressive approach to winning the ADSL war, notes Neilson.

“This campaign is the heart and soul of the market share war for business connectivity as a whole,” he opines.

“In the long term, when some proxy for local loop unbundling is finally implemented, the players leading in this space could be even better positioned, because they will already have the customers.”

Neilson explains this announcement means other players will step up their own product strategies, and that more announcements are expected to follow in this regard.

MWeb Bonded ADSL packages
Business ADSL 50GB 8Mbps (2 x 4 bonded) - R 2 299
Business ADSL 50GB 12Mbps (3 x 4 bonded) - R 2 799
Business ADSL 50GB 16Mbps (4 x 4 bonded) - R 3 299
Business ADSL Uncapped 8Mbps (2 x 4 bonded) - R 5 399
Business ADSL Uncapped 12Mbps (3 x 4 bonded) - R 7 999
Business ADSL Uncapped 16Mbps (4 x 4 bonded) - R 10 699