Rudolph Muller, founder of MyADSL, is talking broadband, broadband, broadband. His hypothesis: new media and broadband are equal partners that need each other to grow.
According to Rudolph's stats slide, the usage in SA looks something like this:
- 420 000 Telkom
- 370 000 Vodacom 3G
- 120 000 MTN 3G (one third of Vodacom!)
- 60 000 iBurst
- 2 500 Sentech
- X 000 CellC EDGE
- 45 000 WISPS
This brings total broadband connections to almost a million. Not bad, but bear in mind that this doesn't refer to unique users. Many broadband users have ADSL at home and a 3G modem.
Wireless broadband connections seems to be overtaking fixed line ADSL locally. Internationally this doesn't exist because of the huge price difference - fixed line is extremely cheap and extremely fast. Wireless is more expensive and hardly comparable in speed.
Broadband penetration rates around the world: leaders include Denmark, Netherlands, Switzerland, Korea (even!), Norway, Iceland and Finland. USA is middle of the graph and South African is somewhere WAYYYYYY at the end.
International Trends vs Local Situation
International: Affordable prices
Local: High prices (you said it)
International: Unlimited usage
Local: Restrictive caps
International: High speeds
Local: Average to slow speeds
International: High speed ADSL, cable and fibre
Local: Wireless connections becoming popular
Rudolph took us through the flow of the typical broadband service portfolio:
- Basic high-speed internet access
- Higher speeds
- Bundles of broadband, content and voice
- Enhanced packages
- Triple-play with IPTV/VOD
- Quad-play with IPTV/VOD/Mobile
Big news is that Neotel will not be offering single services - like telephone or internet solutions. You will only be able to buy converged services: high speed internet PLUS voice PLUS SMS. The pretty clever part here (perhaps) is that users get broadband even if all they want to do is switch their phone line away from Telkom. The thinking here, apparently, is that if users get broadband anyway (and are paying for it in the process) they're more likely to start using it, which will help to force growth in the broadband user base.
And a final biggie: by 2010 we should see the implementation of LTE: 100mb/sec via mobile! Roll on World Cup :)
