Vuma Core vs Vuma Reach vs Vuma Key

[Jan]

Vumatel's three services explained

Remgro-owned Vumatel offers fibre products for a range of incomes in South Africa, and its network expansion has increased rapidly.

From connecting around 70,000 homes a year, the fibre network operator now connects 60,000 to 70,000 per month.

 

[Polymathic]

Having this tiered services is the one of the dumbest things Vumatel could have done.

Now Vumatel currently has 2 services, one garbage one which doesn't run properly and one overpriced one.

Lord knows how they did market research, they have rolled Vuma Reach in my area and with an uptake of not even 20% (probably less) we are already getting degraded line speed and packet during peak on weekdays and weekends. It's almost as if they looked at the colour of the skin of the majority of the residents and not income data when planning the network.

 

[Cactus]

Having this tiered services is the one of the dumbest things Vumatel could have done.

Now Vumatel currently has 2 services, one garbage one which doesn't run properly and one overpriced one.

Lord knows how they did market research, they have rolled Vuma Reach in my area and with an uptake of not even 20% (probably less) we are already getting degraded line speed and packet during peak on weekdays and weekends. It's almost as if they looked at the colour of the skin of the majority of the residents and not income data when planning the network.

I do think it's a good idea to cater for lower income to some extent. I would have a 10 Mbps package at ~ R 199 and then from 50+ the normal pricing. This would allow grandma to still browse Facebook and Whatsapp without breaking the bank.

This multiple networks thing is probably cheaper to roll out, but that area will forever be stuck on those limitations unless another provider steps in.

 

[Yuu]

Direct timeline to the presentation for Vuma Key.

Blame @Jan for making us do extra work .

 

[Mike Hoxbig]

Having this tiered services is the one of the dumbest things Vumatel could have done.

Now Vumatel currently has 2 services, one garbage one which doesn't run properly and one overpriced one.

Lord knows how they did market research, they have rolled Vuma Reach in my area and with an uptake of not even 20% (probably less) we are already getting degraded line speed and packet during peak on weekdays and weekends. It's almost as if they looked at the colour of the skin of the majority of the residents and not income data when planning the network.

It's possible done more for their benefit than yours. Probably simplifies their rollout strategy if they have certain areas identified for a rollout. They would need to know what equipment etc to budget for.

For us, if you want a better product then move to a better area...

 

[konfab]

Having this tiered services is the one of the dumbest things Vumatel could have done.

Now Vumatel currently has 2 services, one garbage one which doesn't run properly and one overpriced one.

Lord knows how they did market research, they have rolled Vuma Reach in my area and with an uptake of not even 20% (probably less) we are already getting degraded line speed and packet during peak on weekdays and weekends. It's almost as if they looked at the colour of the skin of the majority of the residents and not income data when planning the network.

If only 20% of people have bought it, then they were absolutely correct in not rolling out the fastest network possible in the area.

If a cheaper product like Vuma Reach only got 20% uptake, then a more expensive one would only get less.

 

[Polymathic]

It's possible done more for their benefit than yours. Probably simplifies their rollout strategy if they have certain areas identified for a rollout. They would need to know what equipment etc to budget for.

For us, if you want a better product then move to a better area...

Doesn't benefit them having to pour additional funds into improving the performance to acceptable standards instead getting it right first time.

If only 20% of people have bought it, then they were absolutely correct in not rolling out the fastest network possible in the area.

If a cheaper product like Vuma Reach only got 20% uptake, then a more expensive one would only get less.

The service officially went live 3 months ago during the week of the major flooding in Durban, the network was down for like the first week

The first 3 months has been constant outages so many people have taken a wait and see approach and sticking with their LTE. People even cancelling to return to LTE and "Air Fibre" which is double the price for half the speed.

 

[DJ29]

If only 20% of people have bought it, then they were absolutely correct in not rolling out the fastest network possible in the area.

If a cheaper product like Vuma Reach only got 20% uptake, then a more expensive one would only get less.

I think its more so an underestimate in terms of capacity I don't think they were wrong in rolling out reach in my area but they have to account for the users who offset normal usage also from the same area as @Polymathic (Currently on 100mbps and would definitely be on 1gbps if I had the option) lets see if they actually sort this issue out I think its really ridiculous to leave customers on less then 50% speed since the service has gone live. I really hope cheaper infrastructure does not equate to worse service .

 

[konfab]

The service officially went live 3 months ago during the week of the major flooding in Durban, the network was down for like the first week

The first 3 months has been constant outages so many people have taken a wait and see approach and sticking with their LTE. People even cancelling to return to LTE and "Air Fibre" which is double the price for half the speed.

Yeah, I don't think it is fair to be too harsh on them given that piece of information. Pretty much all infrastructure was wrecked by the floods.

 

[Polymathic]

I think its more so an underestimate in terms of capacity I don't think they were wrong in rolling out reach in my area but they have to account for the users who offset normal usage also from the same area as @Polymathic (Currently on 100mbps and would definitely be on 1gbps if I had the option) lets see if they actually sort this issue out I think its really ridiculous to leave customers on less then 50% speed since the service has gone live. I really hope cheaper infrastructure does not equate to worse service .

I'm saying that having different tiered products seems to be stupid. Price wise it's better to have Vuma Reach than Core when it turns other FNOs are competing with both services on a single network , they just price their entry level at a similar price to Reach and still have higher tier packages which are more competitive than core.

Ironically if Vuma deployed aerial here it would have worked out cheaper for them in terms of the costs build and penetration would have been similar. Though if they did there's always a risk of another cheaper FNO swooping in at lower price point and turning that network into a white elephant .

There's a reason why people in Reach areas are switching to Openserve as soon as it becomes available.

 

[The_Ogre]

I do think it's a good idea to cater for lower income to some extent. I would have a 10 Mbps package at ~ R 199 and then from 50+ the normal pricing. This would allow grandma to still browse Facebook and Whatsapp without breaking the bank.

This multiple networks thing is probably cheaper to roll out, but that area will forever be stuck on those limitations unless another provider steps in.

That's not how it works. It's area dependent and Vumatel only rolls out one type of network per area.

Vuma Reach is only rolled out in lower income areas here in CT. R399 for 20mbps to at least give the people access to the internet, but on a lower quality network.

Given that in Mitchell's Plain there are like 5 000 000 000 households, it's actually clever strategy; they're still coining it.

I don't mind the residents over there paying a much lower amount than people pay in my area that has Vuma Core. Vuma Core is the highest quality network and has the most options to choose from. I've lived in my house for 4 years, it has never given issues (some of that credit has to go to Afrihost as well )

 

[Cactus]

That's not how it works. It's area dependent and Vumatel only rolls out one type of network per area.

Vuma Reach is only rolled out in lower income areas here in CT. R399 for 20mbps to at least give the people access to the internet, but on a lower quality network.

Given that in Mitchell's Plain there are like 5 000 000 000 households, it's actually clever strategy; they're still coining it.

I don't mind the residents over there paying a much lower amount than people pay in my area that has Vuma Core. Vuma Core is the highest quality network and has the most options to choose from. I've lived in my house for 4 years, it has never given issues (some of that credit has to go to Afrihost as well )

I understand it's a different set-up altogether, network wise, but that would have been better in the long run, in my opinion.

Pretty much building the same network everywhere and simply offer one lower income package that anyone can take if you want/need to It does probably mean other areas would take preferential treatment in the rollout plan though.

 

[Joseph matane]

Vuma can address 9.7 million target by finding way to use Vodacom backbone infrastructure to roll out "reach" in Northern provinces like Northern Cape, North West and Limpopo then maybe get co-controlling share ko herotel to roll out "key" service in areas which are not too far from herotel FTTH footprint
Sometimes herotel FTTH is available in certain old township which is not far from RDP township. if Vuma bring "key" to RDP township it could cover large footprint fast