MetroFibre is upgrading line speeds on its fibre to the home (FTTH) packages, with product adjustments effective from 1 June 2021 and rolled out over a two-week period after that.
Existing direct FTTH customers and those of ISPs and resellers operating on MetroFibre’s open access network will automatically be bumped up to the next higher speed at no additional cost. With its open access model, customers can choose from multiple Internet service providers, packages and prices.
MetroFibre will also introduce a new 300Mbps FTTH package to ensure that existing 200Mbps customers benefit from the upgrade. MetroFibre will discontinue the 10Mbps package and all existing 10Mbps customers will be upgraded to 25Mbps at the same price as they were paying for 10Mbps.
All upgraded packages are uncapped and unshaped and customers will continue to enjoy symmetrical upload and download speeds with premium equipment and a quality network. MetroFibre’s upgrade to faster line speeds will provide a significant benefit for customers, especially those who were on lower speeds, and now suddenly find themselves having to conduct more of their business from home on a long-term basis.
As MetroFibre is an open access provider, customers will simply continue their relationship with their current Internet Service Provider (ISP) without any interruption – except of course the benefit of radically faster internet speeds. This change is almost certain to bring more competitive pricing to the end-customers of all the ISPs and resellers on the MetroFibre network as a result of their open access policy.
While pricing is always important, being able to change your provider is critical when your current service provider cannot deliver good customer service or a reliable internet connection. An open access network benefits customers as it keeps the service provider at the top of its game and gives customers the freedom to move between providers when their requirements change.
“The work-and-learn-from-home trend brought about by the pandemic is likely to be a long-term trend for many people, thus the quality and speed of the FTTH connections needed by our customers in these changed circumstances was a big driver in the review of our packages,” explains Jacques de Villiers, head of FTTH at MetroFibre.
“Remote conference tools such as Webex, Facetime, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Whatsapp video calls all need a faster line speed to accommodate the data-intensive video and audio interfaces.
“When you consider data-intensive occupations such as civil engineers, creative designers, draughtsman, developers or photographers who upload and download large files, and the fact that virtually all work-from-home will be taking place in the cloud, it’s clear that FTTH users need a more robust, faster line speed at home backed by great service and support.
“The last year has also shown that entire family units are increasingly at home at the same time, which means more users connecting with laptops and mobile devices simultaneously – more users and devices demands a higher speed connection to avoid buffering,” De Villers adds.
“A technologically-enabled future is the only way to achieve greater economic and social inclusion for all South Africans, and enhances the competitiveness of our economy as we embrace the 4th Industrial revolution. As MetroFibre grows and acquires the critical mass on our network, it makes absolute sense to pass on these cost and speed benefits to our customers at the time when it is needed most for them to thrive in a time of great uncertainty.”