Following Telkom’s 30% reduction in the fees it charges Internet service providers to access its broadband digital subscriber line (DSL) access network earlier this month, Dimension Data division Internet Solutions has announced a range of changes to its product portfolio in what amounts to an effective reduction in bandwidth costs for business and wholesale buyers.
Sean Nourse, executive for connectivity at Internet Solutions, says the company will now offer direct business DSL customers, channel partners and wholesalers on the “IS Extreme per GB” capped service additional bandwidth at the same price. “For example, customers who have the 5GB offering will be bumped up to 10GB as we are passing the direct benefit of the cut on to them in the form of additional bandwidth,” Nourse says. “This will be done on a sliding scale as we aim to pass on more than 30% in savings or value wherever we can.”
Customers on the “Cruiser” uncapped offering will get discounts of up to 49% on the 1Mbit/s DSL service.
Internet Solutions has also reduced wholesale rates to its resellers and partners. Nourse says consumers should expect to see this filter through in the coming weeks.
“Our customers on uncapped offerings of 1Mbit/s or lower will enjoy a decrease in rates of up to 53%, while uncapped DSL clients on higher -peed packages, which are generally prone to higher usage, will enjoy significant improvements when using bigger volumes of data instead of reduced rates,” he says. The 4Mbit/s uncapped service, for example, has been upgraded to allow up to 10Mbit/s. This, Nourse says, offers more value than the discount received through Telkom’s price cuts.
Nourse says Internet Solutions is not offering cost reductions across the board as “bandwidth-hungry users get greater value by receiving more bandwidth and an improved service”.
“In the products where there is fair use we can pass on both service and cost benefits,” he says. “In the wholesale market we are also offering some aggressive price discounts so that our partners can go out there and hopefully gain increased market share.”
He says Internet Solutions is also using the 30% saving to reinvest in its network and make changes to improve network efficiency and performance. A Durban point of presence for connections into Telkom’s DSL network will soon be established to complement ones in Cape Town and Johannesburg. — (c) 2012 NewsCentral Media
