Ask Afrihost CEO Gian Visser anything

[Afrihost-Gian]

Do you feel FTTH pricing will come down in the foreseeable future or will ADSL still be around for a long time.

I believe that in a competitive environment there will always be downward movement in prices. However, I think that Fibre prices will remain similar to what they are today.

I also do think that ADSL will be around for a long time to come. There will definitely be erosion of the ADSL market, but overall, despite some of its challenges, it is still a solid service and product. And I do believe it will still be around in many areas for the foreseeable future.

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

What are Afrihost Plans in working together with up and starting Tech Companies? With previous experience in dealing with afrihost consultants they come across as not interested in doing business?

We are always on the look out for great up and coming technologies or products. However, as you can imagine we are approached by many different companies who have great products and they don't all fit in with what we are doing or perhaps we are already using alternate products that we are happy with. We also don't specifically have a investment or VC arm. At the moment we are just trying to get being an ISP right ;-) If you do have something please PM it through and I will take a look at it.

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

As Smart Village has opened up its network to have external ISP's partnership with them, are there plans in joining up with them to deliver their service to the various Estates? If so, when?

We're definitely looking at working with them - Would bring me great joy to offer Afrihost data through them as I am currently a client of theirs as they are the fixed line provider in the estate I'm in. We're looking at rolling out our Fibre offerings with the different Fibre Co's throughout this year. Unfortunately I can't give you na exact time for Smart Village.

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

That mystery bonus bandwidth giveaway was a really great idea. Are there plans to keep such things happening on a regular basis?

I love Mystery Bonuses. We've been doing them since 2013 (I think) and we don't have any plans to never do it again. So when will we do it again? Well that's a Mystery... ;-)

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

How come you don't offer the same data bundle prices on your Mobile SIM cards as you offer for data only (to be used with existing SIM cards)?
I would like to use your mobile SIM, but am sticking with the MTN SIM since I get much better deal on data.

We try keep our prices the same for data across our products. For Mobile with Voice, we show you the breakdown of products within each bundle and the equivalent price so you know exactly what value you’re getting. We always want our clients to get what they pay for (and more) and there’s definitely no benefit to us to have all kinds of hidden clauses and conditions. We keep it simple, one price for data no matter how you sign it up. If you want to PM me specifically what you are referring to I will take a look for you. Thanks

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

Does Afrihost (or do you personally) invest in startups in South Africa that have the potential to change the Internet and/or communications landscape in South Africa?

We do have some companies that we have invested in - we always try and keep our eyes open for awesome potential products, companies or services. Having said that it is not a specific focus of ours to find companies to invest in at this time. But is some awesomeness falls into our laps we won't say no!

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

How scared would you be if you read "do not touch" in Braille?

Growing up I absolutely loved reading (and still do!) and my biggest fear was going blind and not being able to read. And my eyesite was pretty poor as well (Think gangly knee'd geek with glasses taped in the middle).

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

Hi Gian,

Been a fan of Afrihost since day 1, friends would ask me to recommend an ISP, always recommended you guys but sadly noticed a decline since merging with MTN. What exactly is the problem?

I’m really sorry that you’ve had this experience, Andre. There is no question that we’ve faced some challenges, but this is more indicative of us growing as a company and maturing as both a service provider externally and as leaders internally. We’ve had to grow up a lot, but I think the team have been amazing and really hit the ground running. I believe we’ve turned things around from last year, and I really hope that your experience going forward will be more positive. We will never rest. We want to give you and each client the best internet experience possible and we will never ever give up trying to make this vision a reality. We still have a way to go but I believe we can and will do it.

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

Are there any plans for rollover mobile data?

Ultimately we would love to provide rollover mobile data and we do provide this when you top-up your mobile data with us. However, there are some other (mainly financial) factors that we have to take into account before we can do this.

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

Gian, do you believe we might get naked ADSL in South Africa, and when?

I am an optimist by nature, so I do believe we may one day get Naked ADSL in South Africa! I'd like to believe sooner rather than later but I honestly have no real idea. I think it would definitely stimulate the ADSL market - especially in areas that don't have fibre yet. I do know that Openserve (Telkom's wholesale division) have said they are looking at it, but I also know there are a ton of factors that go into that decision, so it definitely may not happen in the short to medium term. Although I would love it to happen as soon as possible!

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

Have you considered contracts instead of month-to-month deals, to accomodate lower monthly cost?

Hi Oom! We firmly and fundamentally believe in the month-to-month model and what it represents. We believe this gives our clients the most choice and is ultimately the best for them. If we don't perform then they can leave us easily and go to someone else - so we need to keep performing and ensure our offerings stay the best. Also the honest truth is that we can't lower our prices anyway!

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

What are you eating for breakfast?

Aaaah, thanks Lion for the easy question ;-) I'm obviously not eating breakfast any more. However, for breakfast this morning I ate boiled eggs and lentils. Delicious!

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

Why does your new Mobile Voice packages only have Credit Cards as a payment option?

We originally launched Mobile Voice with all our standard payment options. Unfortunately the amount of fraud that we encountered was astronomical. Airtime can be easily transferred and is like cash. And once we have given and provisioned the airtime we pay for it regardless of whether we actually manage to collect the money from our client or not. This has unfortunately meant that we've had to tighten up our payment methods for voice substantially. And this meant that only 3-D verified credit cards can be used.

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

Is UNCAPPED, UNSHAPED internet just a pipe dream for South Africa?

Uncapped and unshaped internet in SA is not a pipe dream. If you are willing to pay for it!! ;-) Our Business Uncapped packages are uncapped and unshaped. However, they do cost more than our Premium Uncapped or Home Uncapped options. And downloads for our Premium and Home uncapped are shaped during peak network hours. The bottom line is that to provide a truly uncapped and unshaped internet experience for a client is a very expensive undertaking for an ISP! And this is why you don't get it on the more affordable uncapped options.

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

What was the last thing you learned in your current position as CEO?

That only one afternoon to answer all the questions from MyBroadband forumites is woefully inadequate!

The biggest thing that I've personally learnt over the years of being CEO is how better to deal with all kinds of people.

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

What if my needs change completely? For example - I have a VPS plan and I want to either downgrade to a shared hosting environment or move to a cloud based plan ? Can you accommodate that and what are the costs of up/down grading plans?

One of the cornerstones of our brand is ease of use and scalability. We have designed our ClientZone to make sure it’s easy to move between products and we do all the hard work in the background. Upgrading or downgrading doesn't cost you anything extra. We also do our best to advise you of the possible consequences of downgrading, so that you can retain as much functionality for your business needs. You can always chat to us before you make changes, and one of our tech gurus will advise you on the best course of action

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

What did it take to improve your network from the lows it was at sometime last year and how are you going to convince us to stick with afrihost ?

The short answer here – Time, skill, effort, energy and lots of money! Working closely with EchoSP (who are legends) and Three6Five (who are also great) we had to build up infrastructure from scratch - this took an incredible investment of man hours and capital. We also spent a good chunk of time researching the very best technology and methodologies to make our network the best in the country.

I have to add that our team (led by Brendan Armstrong and ably assisted by Art da Silva) did an absolutely incredible job. 20 hour days for 3 months. Incredible, inspiring stuff. And I believe the results speak for themselves. I can’t thank them enough for the hard work they put in to give our clients a great experience!

And the only way to convince any of our clients to stick with us is to keep delivering the best service we can.

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

Will Afrihost rethink their business strategy and model their products on what customers actually want ?

Absolutely. One of the foundations of our business strategy is to try and figure out what our clients would love and then model our products on that. However, this is of course easier said than done - if you ask 100 clients what they would like you usually get 100 different answers. We also have to take all the real world parameters into consideration when creating products. There are a ton of things we know our clients would love that we are simply not able to do given the constraints we work with. Needless to say it all keeps us up at night!

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

While the future is fibre we all know that copper will still be around for a while, so many of us will be stuck on DSL. Is Afrihost/axxess actively championing for LLU and how will you embrace LLU?

We definitely support any initiative that makes internet more freely available to South Africans. LLU is going to require government intervention, so there really hasn’t been an opportunity for ISP’s to get involved in a more formal way, except the odd MyBB interview. We’ll certainly look through any proposals that can push this forward with interest.

For us the two keys for a thriving ADSL ecosystem and market are (and always have been):

1. Naked ADSL
2. Lower IPC Costs

And to Telkom's (through Openserve now) credit they have been lowering their IPC costs over the last few years. And the effect that this has had on the ADSL marketplace has been striking.

 

[Afrihost-Gian]

Why are you still on MTN for your mobile packages when they are going downhill ?

No question MTN had an incredibly tough 2015. I believe their Group CEO called it their 'most difficult year in history'. Having said this they invested over R10 billion in their network last year and are sincerely committed to improving both their network and their service. While they may have been 'going downhill' as you say last year I do believe that 2016 will be a far, far better year for them.