Customers are winning out as South African mobile operators compete by slashing the prices of their 4G and 5G fixed-wireless products to offer the best internet deals.
While fibre and broadband remain the preferred options for internet streaming and downloading, there are still households and businesses that cannot access this technology. Fixed LTE is emerging as a popular alternative which can’t quite match fibre for speeds, but far outdoes it in terms of wide availability.
This has led to a price war which has caused data prices to be drastically reduced over the past 12 months while advances in mobile network technologies continue to make LTE connectivity faster than before.
According to a report by MyBroadband, Fixed-LTE speeds are now faster than ADSL products. 5G speeds are also exceeding the performance of many fibre broadband options.
At the forefront of network upgrades are mobile internet providers Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, Telkom, and Rain. These leading operators have all launched established fixed-wireless products and are competing in the fixed-LTE market. The result is data prices that have plummeted to below R1 per gigabyte.
Rain has reduced the cost of its unlimited home 5G standard product from R699 to R479 per month and has also lowered the price of its unlimited home 5G premium product from R999 to R699 per month.
Cell C recently introduced a new Home Connecta LTE plan with prices that start at R59 for 5GB anytime data and 5GB after-hours data. This service is made possible using the company’s own network with MTN’s network as a backup coverage solution. This product is followed by a prepaid version called Home Connecta Flexi which follows similar price plans.
“With speeds of up to 150Mbps in optimum network and coverage conditions, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better connection for your home,” says Cell C spokesperson.
As for Telkom, the provider’s current “big deal” is an LTE service that offers subscribers 40GB anytime data and 40GB after-hours data for R199 per month.
MTN’s Vox fixed LTE packages start from R100 per month for 25GB of anytime data with 200GB for R620 per month being an extremely competitive deal.