Vumatel increasing line rental?

[The_Ogre]

Hi Lord of the Swamps

Unfortunately Vumatel has decided to increase your Fibre line rental fee.

Earlier this year I let you know we would need to increase our Vumatel Fibre prices and that I’d let you know when that time came.

I understand this is horrible timing.

Vumatel had planned to do this earlier in the year. However, they were unable to change prices due to the emergency regulations passed by the government regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.

Unfortunately they are now allowed to increase their prices and will be doing so on the 1st of July.

In 2019 Vumatel also increased their prices and we managed to absorb this extra cost for our clients for the whole of last year.

We have tried our best to see if there was any way at all we could also absorb these additional costs for you for this year too.

But unfortunately, while we managed to cover last year’s cost, we cannot afford to absorb these extra monthly costs Vumatel are now charging for your Fibre.

On top of this our normal business costs - salaries, rental, network, operating and general expenses - have also gone up over the last year.

And to add further pressure the Rand/Dollar exchange rate has weakened dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic and led to increases in our input costs too.

So what does this mean for you?

As from the 1st of July your monthly payment to us for your Vumatel Fibre will increase by R50 per month.

I really, really wish we didn’t need to do this now but we simply don’t have a choice.

I’m sorry - I know any increase, no matter the size, is horrible.

I know times are tough and I’m truly grateful for your business - I promise we will never, ever take you for granted.

Thank you for trusting us with your internet.

I pray that you and your loved ones keep safe and well in these challenging times.

Warmest regards

Gian
CEO, Afrihost

So, 50 bucks increase for me...

 

[cobusv]

What speed do you have?

 

[Cius]

Me too. Also R50. I'd like to understand why the increase? Main cost was burying the fibre I thought, which was done years back, and then the bandwidth costs perhaps? Which I thought come down over time. I kind of thought internet was one of those things that gets cheaper over time, not more expensive.

 

[pinball wizard]

I'd like to understand why the increase?

Maintenance costs go up. People (the ones who work, in this case maintaining fibre) need an increase, same as everyone else?

 

[pinball wizard]

Main cost was burying the fibre I thought, which was done years back, and then the bandwidth costs perhaps?

The FNO (in this case Vumatel) has zero influence over the bandwidth cost. That is what your ISP sells you.

 

[The_Ogre]

What speed do you have?

Normally 100/10, but it's doubled at the moment due to this corona BS

 

[Monka]

The FNO (in this case Vumatel) has zero influence over the bandwidth cost. That is what your ISP sells you.

But doesn't Vumatel wholesale bandwidth to isp like Openserve on their own network?

 

[cobusv]

But doesn't Vumatel wholesale bandwidth to isp like Openserve on their own network?

No they dont, those are two very different networks.

Vumatel, Openserve are FNO's and all they providing is the fibre into the premis with a cpe, you still need to sign up with an ISP like to VOX to give you the 'internet' bandwidth.

So the FNO is the vehile and the ISP (VOX) is the fuel driving the vehicle forward

 

[WaxLyrical]

No they dont, those are two very different networks.

Vumatel, Openserve are FNO's and all they providing is the fibre into the premis with a cpe, you still need to sign up with an ISP like to VOX to give you the 'internet' bandwidth.

So the FNO is the vehile and the ISP (VOX) is the fuel driving the vehicle forward

Afrihost still has to pay someone in order for you the customer to get internet, surely?

 

[wingnut771]

The FNO (in this case Vumatel) has zero influence over the bandwidth cost. That is what your ISP sells you.

your isp only controls bandwidth from the data centre, line provider controls bandwidth on last mile, and it's this cost that is increasing, so yes, we can blame vuma. economies of scale should take care of increasing internal costs like wages etc. for example, a new network has 100 customers with same staff no. at fibre company, a year later the same company has 1000 customers with same or similar staff no. a year later they got 10000 customers and so on and so on. the opposite will happen if they keep making the barrier for entry bigger and bigger. if they reduced pricing instead, they would probably have an avalanche of new customers signing up imho.