The launch of LTE-A by Internet Solutions has been a resounding success.

This is according to Greg Montjoie, head of LTE-A and Mobility at Internet Solutions.

Montjoie, who is behind the launch of Rain’s fixed LTE-A products, told MyBroadband the service and experience around the service have been great.

Consumers have enjoyed the shift in approach to broadband services, and it has helped satisfy pent up demand for fibre services

“With the launch of our LTE-A offering, users have access to an alternative option which is fast and accessible,” said Montjoie.

“It’s fast and more accessible than waiting for fibre-to-the-home.”

He said Rain’s LTE-A network has disrupted a traditional stronghold in the South African market, loosening the grip that established telcos have had with fixed-mobile broadband.

Biggest developments

Montjoie said the continued rollout and penetration of fibre services, and the hype and excitement about FTTH, was one of the biggest developments in the local broadband market this year.

“We’re also starting to see enterprises and corporates leveraging broadband mediums to augment their existing network services,” said Montjoie.

Another big development was Internet Solutions’ launch of CloudWAN, a Software Defined Wide Area Network service.

“Companies are now able to access the best of both worlds – a traditional WAN service network, but with the improved user experience that comes with high-speed broadband Internet access,” said Montjoie.

Into 2018

Montjoie said South Africa is finally reaching a point where broadband costs are approaching parity with costs abroad.

“For example, a 25MB connection in New York costs $40. We’re not far off that level of affordability now,” he said.

“South Africa has made massive headway in the last few years, with price points dropping significantly, although we obviously look forward to them dropping even more.”

Montjoie predicts that we will also continue to see the growth of video streaming.

This will be fueled by offerings like Cell C Black entering the market, along with zero-rated video offerings from MTN and Telkom.

2018 will also be the year we start to see the value the Internet of Things can offer South Africans, with higher accessibility and lower price points.

“We anticipate the local market to follow North America’s lead – with services like Amazon Echo,” said Montjoie.

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