Five years on, Openserve has become South Africa’s leading network infrastructure provider that is committed to delivering the ultimate broadband experience and offering even more value to its customers.
We have more than 2.4 million households covered with fibre either directly to the home (FTTH) or to the cabinet (FTTC), with a national coverage spanning metros, urban areas, small towns and townships. But more than having the widest footprint across SA, we will, in the near future, announce our exciting fibre expansion plans to provide FTTH services to the entire FTTC footprint. Openserve continues to work relentlessly at offering the customer the best value and best network experience.
With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and national lockdown, there was a significant demand for reliable Internet connectivity, and this has continued to grow, as more people are working and learning from home indefinitely. We understood more than ever how critical it was to ensure that as many South Africans got connected and stayed connected.
During the peak period of the pandemic, we doubled speeds for free on our network, we introduced symmetrical speeds to our fibre portfolio and increased sync profiles. Openserve even offered numerous incentives, including discounted or free installations. We launched and enhanced our various offerings to provide customers with affordable Internet connectivity options through our Openserve Fibre Connect, Openserve Pure Connect and Openserve Copper Connect product suites.
In addition to this, from 1 March 2021, Openserve will introduce further speed upgrades and price changes on our Openserve Fibre Connect and Openserve Copper Connect product offerings. Price reductions for Openserve Pure Connect will be introduced on 1 April 2021.
As part of the speed upgrade, there will be no additional costs from Openserve impacting ISP partners directly related to this initiative, as we are offering our ISP partners incentives to enable them to easily upgrade their customers.
In support of our fibre roll-out strategy – that of providing high quality, future-proof broadband connectivity to all customers – we are continuing to upgrade Openserve customers currently within the Openserve fibre footprint from their current technology onto our fibre network. This will improve efficiencies and allow more South Africans to have access to affordable broadband. Openserve is also offering further incentives to ease the transition process onto the Openserve fibre network for the impacted customers.
We are encouraged by the positive feedback and excitement of our ISP partners on these new propositions.
Fixed broadband pricing compares favourably to mobile data offerings.
Currently, the price per gigabyte of data that end-users pay over fixed broadband connections compare very favourably to mobile data offers, even when compared to limited time promotional offers from mobile providers. The table below compares the per gig price a user on Openserve fibre would pay on a typical uncapped package from an ISP, to a typical promotional mobile data deal. This example is based on current ISP pricing of uncapped packages in the market. The price per gigabyte rate over our fixed broadband is expected to drop even more once the price changes alluded to above take effect and are passed on to end-users. In addition to competitive per gigabyte rates, fixed BB users generally have a more reliable and consistent user experience than mobile BB users.
| Price per Gig based on 1TB usage | |
|---|---|
| 1Tb Mobile Data Promo offer @ R1000 | R 1/Gig |
| Uncapped 10Mbps ISP package over Openserve fibre @R499 pm | 50c/Gig* |
| Uncapped 20Mbps ISP package over Openserve fibre @699 pm | 70c/Gig* |
* It is important to note that on Openserve fibre, the user could use more than 1TB resulting in an even lower per gig rate.
Openserve strives to give its customers the most value, beyond affordable pricing.
Openserve launched a self-service app in November 2020. This app enables customers to manage their broadband network connection and Internet service at a push of a button.
The Openserve Connect App, which is available in Android and iOS, puts self-service capabilities in the hands of the customer, allowing potential and existing customers to engage with Openserve directly in order to get their homes connected to the Openserve broadband network. A platform that puts the customer's connected home as a priority. As the leader in open access broadband connectivity in South Africa, we are committed to finding new and innovative ways of enabling the flow of information and will continue to work closely with our ISP partners to ensure that, together, we enable a world-class connected experience for the customer at their home.
We encourage all customers on Openserve infrastructure, copper or fibre, to download the Openserve Connect App to check whether their line has been upgraded as per our communication. The app has also become a channel through which customers can influence the future roll-out out of fibre in their respective areas by registering their interest on the app.
We remain focused on connecting as many South Africans as possible and to enhancing their Internet experience through our reliable connectivity and high-speed networks.
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