MD of RSAWEB Rob Gilmour says that the high cost of ADSL line rentals is the last barrier to providing affordable broadband access to all South Africans: "Consumers have benefitted from the recent price wars over data, but when you add the cost of line rentals, the barrier still remains too high - especially for the lower income groups that have been hardest hit by recessionary pressures and rampant inflation."
"The wider economic benefits of a connected society will only truly be felt once this barrier is removed, and broadband penetration can grow unhindered..."
"A recent study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranked South Africa last (out of 62 countries) in terms of overall broadband value and subscription costs. We're lagging way behind he rest of the world - we feel it's time to catch up," added Gilmour.
Despite the steady fall of ADSL and mobile data costs due to healthy competition over the past two years, the cost of ADSL line rentals has not followed suit. Neither promises by government nor intervention by ICASA (The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa) in the form of their proposed Local Loop Unbundling (a regulation that gives ISPs access to Telkom's local network, thus creating space for competition) has brought about any immediate change to the price of line rentals. LLU has been vehemently opposed by the incumbents, and even once approved, the implementation of LLU will take years to complete due to the inherent complexities.
"ICASA is making strides in the right direction with LLU, but the progress is too slow and too late in the game," commented Gilmour.
Gilmour explains that the new prices will benefit consumers and the industry: "By removing the barriers of high line rental costs, broadband penetration can grow at a faster pace, creating a much larger pool of internet users. The new prices will also put pressure on the incumbents to lower the wholesale prices of line rentals, as we've seen was the case with the recent broadband data price wars."
The new prices, which offer savings of up to 30% or R1 092 per annum, are available on RSAWEB's consumer capped ADSL product: Super DSL.
The full details of the new prices can viewed at www.rsaweb.co.za.
