ICL will start its own dial-in Internet service provider (ISP) service next year, following its involvement with Absa Bank`s free Internet access model.
According to Mike Semple, infrastructure services executive, ICL, the new ISP hopes to convert at least 5 000 users from Absa`s free Internet offering to paying ICL subscribers once Absa restricts free access to Absa Bank clients only.
Semple says that with current costing estimates, ICL will only need 3 000 subscribers at R59 a month to break even. He adds that ICL is able to offer such low rates because of its low cost of user acquisition.
The initial offering will be basic Internet and e-mail access, without value-added services. Semple hopes to introduce some value-added services like virus scanning on e-mail and a webmail system once the ISP has been launched.
"Some of the value-adds will be at no cost, some will have a cost associated, but it will be the user`s choice," says Semple.
"The real power users only want a basic service, and the entry-level users only need a basic service, which leaves a very narrow band of users in the middle that want to make use of value-added services," he adds.
ICL will continue to provide Absa`s remaining free Internet users with Internet access, and Semple says that other companies are discussing the model with ICL. The infrastructure company will also explore the possibilities of providing similar Internet access services to local government, a traditional ICL stronghold.
Some decisions around the new ISP still have to be made, including the appointment of a call centre operator, the selection of a billing partner, and a pronouncement on the domain name. ICL will re-brand next year as it aligns with its Fujitsu parent, knocking icl.co.za off the list as a potential URL. Internet Solutions will provide fulfilment of ICL`s bandwidth needs.
Users migrating from Absa will keep their current e-mail prefixes, but will lose the freemail.absa.co.za suffix.
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