MWEB secures SAT-3 bandwidth: details

[Gordon_R]

I would bet that Mweb has struck a deal with Telkom so they can temporarily increase their bandwidth on SAT 3 when Seacom goes down.

Do you have any information or elaboration on that theory?

Standby bandwidth costs exactly the same as normal bandwidth, so it would only make sense if SEACOM has some involvement in the deal (shared bandwidth pool). This is certainly possible, but is not covered directly in the original 'press release'.

Although MWEB will be buying the capacity on SAT-3, the service will be managed by Seacom which allows MWEB to have one point of contact through a single service provider.

 

[TheGuy]

Do you have any information or elaboration on that theory?

Standby bandwidth costs exactly the same as normal bandwidth, so it would only make sense if SEACOM has some involvement in the deal (shared bandwidth pool). This is certainly possible, but is not covered directly in the original 'press release'.

How did they mange to secure some temporary bandwidth when Seacom went down? SAT-3 isn't exactly running at full capacity so if you want to get some over a short period it would probbly just cost a lot more. No facts thou just theory.

 

[MickeyD]

How did they mange to secure some temporary bandwidth when Seacom went down? SAT-3 isn't exactly running at full capacity so if you want to get some over a short period it would probbly just cost a lot more. No facts thou just theory.

afaik they lit up more capacity for the SWC traffic and TV broadcasts. Some of that should be spare now!

 

[Gordon_R]

How did they mange to secure some temporary bandwidth when Seacom went down? SAT-3 isn't exactly running at full capacity so if you want to get some over a short period it would probbly just cost a lot more. No facts thou just theory.

afaik they lit up more capacity for the SWC traffic and TV broadcasts. Some of that should be spare now!

Good point: I'm sure there is spare capacity on SAT-3 after the SWC (at a reasonable price).

My point is that you can't just phone up SAT-3, and immediately get connected for the period that your alternate link is down, and then stop using it when you don't need it. You have to buy bandwidth capacity for a fixed period (months or years).

The other option is to buy (temporarily at a considerably higher price) from another ISP that has spare/unused capacity for the short period when you need it. This only works if there are enough ISP's with unused capacity (MWeb keeps growing and needs a lot of bandwidth).

 

[MickeyD]

Good point: I'm sure there is spare capacity on SAT-3 after the SWC (at a reasonable price).

My point is that you can't just phone up SAT-3, and immediately get connected for the period that your alternate link is down, and then stop using it when you don't need it. You have to buy bandwidth capacity for a fixed period (months or years).

The other option is to buy (temporarily at a considerably higher price) from another ISP that has spare/unused capacity for the short period when you need it. This only works if there are enough ISP's with unused capacity (MWeb keeps growing and needs a lot of bandwidth).

That ^
Price will obviously be negotiated but will be in the same ballpark / range as that sold to other ISP's.

 

[Roman4604]

I'm sure there is spare capacity on SAT-3 after the SWC (at a reasonable price).

Will only be of short-term interest though.

I think ulitmately WACS will become the main SA Internet artery, probably for the next decade? Its got the right path and tons of capacity without the 'telco only consortium' stranglehold.

With the migration west, should drive down east coast pricing to where it would be cheap enough for operators to still purchase significant capacity for failover/overflow/junk traffic.

Interesting (Internet) times ahead.