23 April 2020, Johannesburg – Responding to market changes as a result of COVID-19, Openserve fibre and DSL customers will enjoy upgraded data speeds for a 3-month period, effective 1 May 2020.
COVID-19 has forced communities, businesses and governments to embrace the centrality of technological advancements to connect, communicate, and conduct business, remotely.
Openserve, South Africa’s largest open-access infrastructure provider, believes and understands that high speed Internet connectivity is even more relevant now than ever before for work, home and educational needs. With social distancing and self-isolation practices now being the norm, high speed Broadband connectivity will enable South Africans to better cope with everyday activities during this period.
“In light of the extraordinary circumstances the nation is currently facing, Openserve is taking extreme measures to not only protect the safety of our staff and clients but to ensure that we do everything in our power to keep the nation connected during the national lockdown period and beyond. Virtual connections have never been more important,” says Althon Beukes, Openserve CEO.
To this end, Openserve recently introduced solutions and product incentives to the market that would enable reduced data pricing and improved access, allowing their clients to simplify their data product offerings to the end customer.
“In addition to these earlier contributions, we are pleased to announce an increase in speed on our Openserve Fibre Connect and Openserve Copper Connect products, for a period of 3 months, from May 2020 to July 2020.” Adds Beukes.
Since the outbreak, many network providers and ISPs have started to offer upgraded data speeds. In response to these market changes, Openserve has taken the necessary steps to ensure ISPs are not negatively impacted, offering double the speeds to qualifying FTTH and DSL customers from May until July.
“Our ambition is to empower all South Africans to cope with day to day activities of working from home and home schooling. We want to deploy a solution that will help bridge the digital divide and benefit the users who need higher speeds the most. With this new proposition, our lower speed fibre customers will have their speeds doubled at the very least, ensuring that they have enough additional bandwidth to adapt to their demands. We have also concentrated our efforts on increasing the speeds of our lower speed DSL customers. Our lowest speed DSL customers will be afforded an upgrade of up to 10x the existing speed, where network constraints allow.”
The speed upgrades will include:
Openserve Fibre Connect Speed Upgrades
- 10Mbps,20Mbps and 40Mbps speeds will be upgraded to 20Mbps,40Mbps and 100Mbps respectively.
- Existing 100Mbps and 200Mbps will remain unchanged.
Openserve Copper Connect Speed Upgrades
- Qualifying 1Mbps,2Mbps, 4Mbps and 8Mbps will be upgraded to 10Mbps subject to network and distance limitations.
- Services unable to achieve 10Mbps will be excluded from the upgrade.
- Existing 10Mbps, 20Mbps and 40Mbps will remain unchanged.
“Speed is critical in the fast-paced ever-evolving business landscape we find ourselves in today. It’s important to keep up as we learn to adapt,” concludes Beukes.
