Broadband price war brews
|
3 September 2008 |
| |
Verizon Communications and AT&T have thrown the first blows in an impending broadband pricing war.
Last week, Verizon Communications said it will offer six months of free DSL service to new customers who sign up for a one-year contract and also use the company's traditional landline voice service. The promotion is available until the end of October.
Verizon's DSL service typically costs between $19.99 per month for 768Kbps downloads and $42.99 a month for 7.1Mbps downloads. Add traditional telephone service, and subscribers can get high-speed DSL and phone service for as little as $45 a month versus $65 a month.
AT&T has also upped the ante with a new promotion that guarantees customers its current pricing, which ranges from $20 to $55, for two years, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The promotions come as broadband operators saw a sharp decline in new subscriber growth in the second quarter of 2008. Twenty of the largest cable operators and phone companies in ...
|
| |
Recent International News Articles |
Regulators in Nigeria have fined four cellphone carriers a total of $7.3 million (R58m) over poor service in a nation that depends on cellphones for communications, a spokesman said.
The Nigeria Communications Commissions penalties hit Bharti Airtel Ltd of India, Abu Dhabi-based Etisalat, local firm Globacom Ltd and South Africa-based MTN Group Ltd, some of the dominant carriers in AfricaҒs most populous nation. Etisalat and MTN must pay $2.25m apiece, while Airtel faces a penalty of $1.68m and Glo... |
Supply of international capacity to Africa will soon outstrip demand and lead to price wars, according to Africa Analysis director, Dobek Pater.
Speaking at yesterday's launch of ITWeb Africa in Rosebank, Johannesburg, Pater noted that by 2014 total terminal connectivity out of Africa on submarine cables is expected to be more than 60Tbps with existing and planned cables.
Improving the telecoms environment is a key driver, said Dobek Pater, director at Africa Analysis.
However, he expressed concerns ... |
MTN Rwanda internet subscribers are set to benefit from the operator's decision to cut its data prices.
The company announced on Monday that it had slashed data prices by half the current price for both post-paid and top-up users as it seeks to consolidate its leadership position amidst growing competition following the entry of India's Bharti Airtel, late last month.
"We continued with our aggressive push for market penetration especially in rural areas," MTN's Chief Marketing Officer, Yvonne Makolo ... |
Kenyan mobile giant Safaricom has promised to double 3G broadband speeds to 42Mbps, Business Daily Africa reports. Although the operator has not explicitly confirmed the exact technical specifications behind the increase in speeds, it is assumed that the advanced connections are courtesy of a Dual Carrier HSPA+ (DC-HSPA+) network deployment.
The move comes just a month after long-term rival Airtel Kenya launched its own belated 3G network in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Kisumu, Eldoret and Naivasha.
Safa... |
Nigerias PeopleҒs Democratic Party on Monday approached a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja aiming to compel the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to revoke MTN Nigeria Communications Ltd s licence.
The partyђs Osun and Ekiti Chapters filed the suit, while Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola, former Osun State governor, alleged the NCC failed to protect them from MTNs unfair practices.
They allege MTN provided the council with an incomplete data after they were req
uested to provide the... |
East Africa's high-speed internet access has been severely disrupted after a ship dropped its anchor onto fibre-optic cables off Kenya's coast.
The ship was waiting to enter Mombasa - one of Africa's busiest ports - when it anchored in a restricted area.
It could take up to 14 days to repair, cable owners The East African Marine Systems (Teams) told the BBC.
This is one of three undersea cables to have arrived in the region since 2009, delivering faster internet access.
Dropped anchor
... |
A report unveiled by Vice-President Joe Biden says the measure would boost public safety and accommodate the surge in wireless data traffic.
Last week, a Payroll Tax Extension bill passed by Congress included a public safety broadband network provision.
The report predicts that use of wireless data will increase 20-fold between 2010 and 2015.
The rollout of the new spectrum would be used "to speed wireless communication, and to fulfil a promise made to first responders after 9/11 that they would ha... |
A third of homes in the UK have broadband speeds well below the national average, according to research from price comparison site uSwitch.
While half of addresses get broadband speeds of 6.7Mbps or above, a third struggle to get speeds above 5Mbps, 1.7m speed tests found.
The East Sussex village of Winchelsea was the slowest, with an average speed of 1.1Mbps, according to uSwitch.
Hereford was the slowest city, with average speeds of 3.1Mbps.
The government wants to see super-fast broadband as ... |
End of 2011 results show Verizon lost almost half a million DSL customers during last year, while AT&T managed to lose more than six hundred thousand in the last quarter alone - but those customers aren't turning away from the internet they're just switching to a more 21st-century form of connectivity.
So AT&T lost 636,000 DSL customers in the last three months of 2011, but picked up 587,000 for its U-Verse service which used fibre for the majority of the connection, if not all of it. Those missi... |
Virgin Media is planning to whip its broadband into a wild gallop in a 110m upgrade that will produce a top speed of 120Mbps.
The company won't be charging its existing customers for the new speeds, and folks who have an old modem incapable of handling the super-fast internet Ö such as those on the 20Mbps package will get a new one free.
The smokin' hot broadband speeds were enough to prompt praise from UK prime minister David Cameron, who reckons the upgrade will boost the economy. One of the g... |
