MetroFibre Networx has provided more details about recently announced price cuts and increased connection speeds, while also unveiling fresh corporate branding as the fibre broadband market in South Africa becomes increasingly competitive.

For MetroFibre Direct customers – those who do not get access to the company’s network through a third-party Internet service provider – the following changes apply:

A 20Mbit/s symmetrical uncapped fibre connection is now R399/month;
The 50Mbit/s, 100Mbit/s and 200Mbit/s packages have all been discontinued, replaced by a 250Mbit/s symmetrical uncapped connection costing R799/month.
The company said the above change is based on “extensive market research that shows customers want more speed and uncapped data”;
“Dramatically” reduced pricing on a 500Mbit/s symmetrical uncapped package, now R1 099/month; and
“Dramatically” reduced pricing on a 1Gbit/s (500Mbit/s upload) uncapped package, now R1 249/month.

“To contextualise, this means that customers now receive 250Mbit/s at almost the same price as the 50Mbit/s package would have cost them a year ago. Both the 500Mbit/s and 1Gbit/s (500Mbit/s uplink) packages are now R551 and R701 cheaper, respectively, than they were one year ago,” MetroFibre said in a statement on Thursday.

“A customer can now get a 500Mbit/s package at a lower price than a 100Mbit/s package would have cost them a year ago, and can get 1Gbit/s (500Mbit/s up) at almost the same price that a 200Mbit/s package would have cost in 2022.”

MetroFibre’s network passes 440 000 homes, with 126 000 of those connected. It plans to densify its existing networks to reach an additional 500 000 residential homes by 2025.

The company also unveiled new corporate branding, and a new payoff line: “The home of fast.”

“It was very clear from the research that our customers are looking for much higher speeds, cost-efficiency, quality and service levels that only fibre can consistently deliver,” said CEO Jan-Jan Bezuidenhout in Thursday’s statement.

“As their needs have evolved rapidly, our response to those needs must move at pace, too, so small incremental enhancements in speeds or pricing alone are not going to demonstrate the power of real fibre speeds.” — © 2023 NewsCentral Media