SOUTH AFRICA – A new fibre to the home (FTTH) player has launched in South Africa as competition in the sector heats up.

RocketNet, controlled by directel, has announced its intention to disrupt the FTTH market which has seen multiple organisations race to capture demand for high-speed broadband access.

“Other ISPs [internet service providers] who offer low caps on their fibre optic internet packages are short-sighted,” said Simon Swanepoel, commander at RocketNet

“When consumers are exposed to the speeds at which fibre runs, they inevitably burn through their caps very quickly. That is why RocketNet has developed a range of fully uncapped offerings to meet consumer needs at every level,” he added.

The company offers uncapped access in Kyalami Estates, Sunninghill, and Barbeque Downs starting at R995 per month for an uncapped 25Mbps (megabits per second) line up to R1 995 for a 100Mbps connection.

Telkom, Vumatel, Fibrehoods and MWEB all have FTTH offerings in the market that has focused on wealthier areas in their primary roll-out.

“As more companies invest in laying fibre infrastructure, the quality of the internet in South Africa will increase.

This will have a positive impact on the economy as a whole,” said Edward Lawrence, director of Business Development at Workonline Communications which provides the upstream traffic for directel.

February 10, 2016; http://www.fin24.com/Tech/News/new-fibre-player-promises-market-disruption-20160210