Lowest ADSL line rental in SA

Local Internet Service Provider RSAWEB yesterday announced the release of its new ADSL line rental prices, featuring the lowest ever line rental prices seen by the South African market.

Local Internet Service Provider RSAWEB yesterday announced the release of their new ADSL line rental prices, featuring the lowest ever line rental prices seen by the South African market since the service was introduced in 2002. The new prices which offer savings of up to 30% and R1 092 per annum come as welcome relief to local consumers plagued by a fragile economy, rising inflation and sky-rocketing fuel and electricity costs.

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‚Ķ‚

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.

“”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 goes on to explain that the new prices will not only benefit consumers, but the industry at large: “”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.

Line

New Price

Monthly Savings

Annual Savings

%Change Monthly

384kb/s

R129

R23

R276

15%

1Mb/s

R211

R88

R1 056

30%

10Mb/s

R322

R91

R1 092

22%

How the new prices stack up against other South African ISPs:

Company

RSAWEB

Telkom*

Web Africa*

Axxess*

384kb/s

R129

R152

R150

R139

1Mb/s

R211

R289

R250

R249

10Mb/s

R322

R413

R400

R359

“