Vumatel increasing prices

3 years ago 1

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Vumatel will increase pricing across its fibre packages by between 1.1% and 2.1% from 1 June 2023.

However, the fibre network operator (FNO) has announced that it will waive installation and activation fees from that date to offset the increase.

MyBroadband asked the FNO for clarification on the increases after a reader received a notification of the Vumatel price changes from their Internet service provider (ISP).

“We can confirm that we have announced a modest increase in our wholesale rate for our Core products, effective from 1 June 2023,” Vumatel said.

Vumatel is not the only FNO to announce price adjustments this year.

Herotel, Openserve, Metrofibre, Frogfoot, and Octotel have all announced changes to their packages and pricing.

“Like other FNOs, we are not immune to rising operational costs, particularly due to ongoing load-shedding. However, through improved efficiency measures, we have been able to minimize the impact.”

The FNO said it could not provide specific prices as these vary based on individual ISP offerings. However, it broke down the wholesale price changes as follows:

50/50Mbps — 2.1% increase
100/100Mbps — 1.7% increase
200/200Mbps — 1.4% increase
500/500Mbps — 1.3% increase
1,000/250Mbps — 1.1% increase

“We cannot comment on individual ISP pricing, as each provider establishes their retail price points based on our wholesale rate and their specific operational costs,” Vumatel said.

This is evident in the price increase notification Internet service provider Cool Ideas sent to a MyBroadband reader.

The pricing for their 50/50Mbps fibre connection will increase from R699 to R749 a month from 1 June — an increase of approximately 7%.

MyBroadband asked Cool Ideas for more information regarding the increase, and it confirmed that Vumatel is dropping installation fees to offset the price change for new customers.

“Vumatel did implement price increases effective 1 June. They are also dropping installation fees, which we will integrate into our model,” a Cool Ideas spokesperson said.

The ISP stated that Vumatel’s updated pricing would only be available on the Cool Ideas website from 1 June.