Speedlink is ‘a game-changer’

A toast to marking the official launch of Speedlink by the Minister of Information & Communication Technology Joel Kaapanda (second from right) and the MD of Telecom Namibia Frans Ndoroma, Board members Roger Gertze and Feitjie Veldskoen, and Board Chairman Joseph Iita (extreme right).  Telecom Namibia has launched a new broadband service called Speedlink that aims to provide customers with faster and cheaper Internet services. Minister of Information and Communication Technology Joel Kaapanda officially launched this latest broadband product from Telecom Namibia at a breakfast function held in Windhoek on 31 May 2012. The Speedlink product is a direct benefit arising from the recently commissioned West Africa Cable System (WACS) of which Telecom Namibia is the landing agent in the country. Free Speedlink upgrade with SpeedLink, Telecom Namibia upgraded all its existing broadband customers on its ADSL and WiMAX platforms from their current packages to the next higher package. For example, a customer on a 1Mbps (megabits per second) was upgraded to the next 2Mbps package for free. The implications are that all these customers were upgraded to a higher speed at the same monthly charge, while others were upgraded to a higher speed with a reduction in their monthly charge. All existing customers were upgraded based on an agreed matrix. Home customers, for example, benefit from 33% link speed improvement on the entry level package and up to 50% on the higher packages. This means that packages are upgraded from 256k to 384k representing 33%, while packages upgraded from 512k to 1024k represent a 100% link improvement. The savings derived from increased speed packages without any costs to customers range from 33% to 50%, and new customers will benefit from 36% up to 41% when they sign up for Speelink packages. Packages The new product consists of Speedlink Business and Speedlink Home which enable both business and residential customers to enjoy faster Internet speeds at cheaper monthly rates. The Speedlink Home range comprises: the entry-level 384k package, priced at N349 per month, and the premium Speedlink Home package, priced at N$949 per month for a 36 months contract, featuring a download speed of up to 2048k.  The other packages are the 512k and 1024k priced at N$549 and N$649 per month respectively, for a 36-month contract.     Packages benefit from unlimited monthly data usage, free modem, web space, voice/fax numbers, fax2email address, on-net voice calls, and up to 2 static IP addresses. Speedlink Business provides download speed of 512 to 10240kbps and 256 to 2048kbps for upload. Speedlink Business is equipped to deliver business users consistently high speed connections and value for money.  With unlimited usage, businesses can download whatever they need to at all times, without the need to restrict users.  Up to 10Mb speeds better equip businesses to efficiently perform data intensive tasks such as sending and receiving large documents, graphics or media files, video conferencing or using web-based software.  Faster speeds can bring to life more flexible working with quicker VPN access to internal systems.  By using the inclusive IP addresses, businesses can reduce their communications costs with IP and video calling.