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iBurst is making the dubious claim that they provide the world’s lowest entry level broadband rate. In a Brainstorm article by Donovan Jackson it is stated that “iBurst not only delivers a true broadband connection fast, but does so at rates that, at entry level, are the world’s lowest.” This statement is questionable at best. One does not even have to look beyond the borders of South Africa to find far more affordable broadband options – both on price and speed. When iBurst was quizzed about this statement the company palmed MyBroadband off to the article author, but the author confirmed that he received this information straight from the iBurst MD, Alan Knott-Craig Jnr. Dubious Claim iBurst’s entry level product, namely Play Special, offers users 40 MB of data for R 49-00 per month. MTN’s 10 MB data bundle is priced at R 10-00 which is not only cheaper than iBurst’s R 49-00 but also provides higher speeds and a lower per-MB data rate. The company may argue that it has a KickStart service providing users with 10 MB free usage per month, but to consider this a broadband service – especially since it is unavailable on a 24-month contract and the company’s ‘Bandwidth Booster’ is unavailable on this package – is not entirely accurate. The barrier of entry is also very high for iBurst. Its cheapest modem – a laptop USB or PCMCIA modem – is priced at R1 820-00. For the play special package, which carries a R 99-00 activation charge, the total monthly cost for the service - which includes a modem on a 24 month contract – is R 69-00. This service only provides 40 MB per month. Compare this rate with India’s BSNL 2 Mbps Broadband offering which provides 1 GB of usage for a mere R 35-00 per month and iBurst’s claim starts to look very much like a hyped up marketing campaign with very little behind it to substantiate the claims. Even iBurst’s ‘free’ KickStart service with all the limitations will cost a minimum of around R 76-00 if users opt for the cheapest possible modem to be paid off over 24 months. This is still double the cost for BSNL 2 Mbps Broadband offering, which not only gives users 100 times more usage but double the speed. Cheapest broadband in town? On its website the company boasts that its Play Intro is “the cheapest broadband in town!” ‘Get the Play Intro package with no modem at R149 a month,’ the iBurst website states. The Play Intro package, which offers 200 MB of usage per month, is more expensive than the MyWireless Lite service which at R 99-00 offers 150 MB of usage. The MyWireless modem price for their Lite service costs R 439-00, around four times less than iBurst’s R 1 820-00 device. Not the first shady claim This is however not the first time that iBurst has made these bold claims. It previously said that it ‘offers the most affordable entry level broadband package in South Africa’. Considering the more affordable offerings from MTN – both on price and on price-per-MB – this claim is simply false. Earlier this year the company also stated that its offerings were “the most cost effective in the market” despite being more expensive than both MTN and Sentech at the time. It seems that iBurst, under the guidance of its MD Alan Knott-Craig Jnr, is maybe trying to create the impression of affordable broadband by spurting out impressive but unsubstantiated claims rather than rolling up their sleeves and doing the hard work of producing the goods. The unfortunate truth is that many unsuspecting consumers are taking this information at face value only to discover the truth after signing up for the service. Link |
