South African internet service provider (ISP) Neotel has slashed the cost of some of its NeoBroadband Fibre subscription plans almost by half, in line with a previous announcement made by CEO Sunil Joshi that the operator will reduce its fibre-to-the-building (FTTB) tariffs and discontinue plans with downlink speeds of less than 2Mbps, MyBroadband reports. ‘Unlike heavily contended ADSL services, NeoBroadband offers a fast and efficient internet service with very little contention,’ the operator was cited as saying. According to the updated pricing list, a 2Mbps connection with unlimited usage now costs ZAR1,600 (USD144.68), down from ZAR3,050 per month, while premium symmetrical 100Mbps access is now charged at ZAR19,380 per month, nearly half the previous monthly subscription of ZAR37,575.
The updated Neotel pricing follows the launch of Vodacom’s FTTB service in South Africa on 17 September 2014. As noted by CommsUpdate last month, Vodacom, which agreed to acquire Neotel in May 2014, offers fibre subscription plans starting at ZAR2,599 for a 5Mbps/2.5Mbps down/uplink connection, while its premium 100Mbps/50Mbps service is priced at ZAR16,999.