Web Africa Network Plans – A Q&A with the CEO
Q: What are we planning regarding self-provisioning? Hereby I mean how much traffic will we carry and how much IPC capacity did we buy?
Matt: We will carry well over 500mps of IPC traffic. We will manage the IP network and purchase and peer with carriers and content providers as necessary.
Q: What bandwidth will we use?
Matt: We will most likely use Seacom and in the future WACS indirectly through carriers or partners. For international bandwidth we’ll initially use Sat3, backed by Telkom Wholesale in order to secure dependability and performance at good pricing. [...]
Q: Will we only carry ADSL traffic?
Matt: ADSL and hosting. We will be able to offer significant cost savings on the hosting side shortly, up to 100% in many cases, because we are able to leverage our content and access position to deliver further value. Our first step though is to ensure stable network connections and a seamless transition for customers. That’s our number one priority. Once we have a more holistic view of the data on our converged network (content/hosting and access/ADSL), we’ll be able to see where we can offer good deals.
Q: Will we look to interconnect directly with other hosts to cut local bandwidth cost?
Matt: Yes, for ADSL and hosting.
Q: Will we peer at JINX?
Matt: Most likely we will peer first at CINX (as the action is currently happening in Cape Town). But IPC will terminate in Teraco and connect to the hosting network.
Q: Now pricing. By how much do you think we’ll be able to cut prices on ADSL?
Matt: This is the million dollar question and the reason we haven’t been able to commit to figures. The honest truth is, we don’t know. We are fundamentally changing our business model from a VAR (Value Added Reseller) per GB to fixed cost. This will change the value offering significantly. We had hoped to be in a position where we can offer this sooner, but the launch is dependent on other parties, such as Telkom being able to provision us what we want, and there were significant technical and commercial hurdles to overcome.
But I can say that our product range will be entirely redone in due course. The whole idea behind us launching a new network is to finally be able to achieve real economies of scale.
Q: When will things take off?
Matt: If Telkom deliver, we’ll launch the trial within the next 30 days. The testing should take about 2-4 weeks, depending on how smooth it is. Then we’ll switch everyone over and collect the data to see where we can reduce pricing. But I’d like to aim for this year still.
In the meantime, we’ll be announcing some very competitive pricing on hosting which has largely been unchanged for quite some time.
Q: Will we be offering an uncapped service now that we have our own bandwidth?
Matt: Most definitely. Time frames will start of next year.
Q: Will we cut a user off because of an international warning or piracy issues as happened with IS and the bittorent warning recently?
Matt: No, we will not be doing this. We will work with the media industry to deliver content to customers legally and on their terms, however we will never voluntary cut off users without a court order requiring that action. We are not in the business of being the police force and to be embroiled in infringement matters. This is a matter between the IP industries and the consumer.
Q: Do you think R50 per GB is the new ADSL benchmark for data?
Matt: Yes, I don’t foresee it dropping dramatically more than that this year. You may see special offers etc. coming in below this rate, but there will be strings attached. The reality is that Seacom hasn’t changed all that much but the landscape is coming once true competition arrives via WACS and Eassy. The dynamics of pricing are changing completely and the local rates are going to drop dramatically in the near future.