First the situation is a little hot because ISPs and big communication service providers like MTN, UTL and ZAIN find it weired to buy capacity from Infocom. Really compared to these Infocom is an under dog and this should be one of the great mistake SEACOM has done in the Ugandan market. How do you expect a company like MTN with more than 3 million customers to buy capacity from infocom which does not even clock 500 "Big business mistake".
Infocom is now dealing in both retail and whole sale business of internet on behalf of seacom. There is a big problem with this because infocom will determine the price other providers get broadband for and definately will make sure it safocates them so as not to meet its retail values. I think UCC should come in and regulate this because this should be one of the problems as to why we are not expeirencing and speed changes here in uganda because ISPs have refused to connect to seacom through infocom.
Back to the reduced internet tarriffs from Infocom
Like most ISPs in Uganda, information on pricing is not easily got in the public domain, i think most ISPs charge prices according to how the percieve a company to be.
I called infocom and the first information the wanted to know before the devulge any information to me was which company I come from. I am pretty sure at the moment if you are an individual the can't tolerate dealing with you. The asked for how many computers we have and I always ask myself why the need this information and I have come to realise that if you give them a small number, the cost is relatively lower.
This is an email I got from thier sales representative
I have alot of questions I asked my self regarding this email, Is infocom still providing thier capacity through V-sat yet on the seacom launch they told use thier link is worthy 10Gbs,
May I take this opportunity to introduce to you our selected service descriptions for your kind perusal and reference.
I am pleased to state that as Uganda’s Internet pioneer, Infocom is today more then ever positioned to offer a full portfolio of Internet and Data Services. We recently introduced WDSL (Wireless DSL) via Wimax connectivity in the exclusive licensed Frequency Band.
Deployment of leading technology in our IT backbone (Uganda’s largest Internet capacity via V-Sat connection into Europe and USA) paired with an unparalleled level of engineering expertise provide the base to meet even the most challenging IT and connectivity requirements of our clients.
Infocom provides direct broadband Internet connectivity via its own gateway, with bandwidth segments offered ranging from 64kbps to 2Mbps, symmetrical or asymmetrical in nature, this means the up and down bandwidth can be any ratio in multiples of 64 Kbps (i.e. 64 Kbps in and 64Kbps out, 128Kbps in and 64Kbps out etc.)
Our mission statement is simply to continue to deliver the very best in data connectivity solutions allowing all Infocom clients to take advantage of all benefits the Internet has to offer.
Advantages and Benefits Include, no telephone cost implication, its a flat rate and the Speeds are Fast.
We have also introduced different solutions with INFOCOM VoIP Service ‘Talk Lite’ which gives access to cheap international call rates, unlimited FREE Voice calls
within our network and our peering partners in Kenya.
Looking forward to your quick response.
If you move around Kampala infocom has advertised heavily and from implication the lowest whole sale price the have is STM-1 which is equal to 155Mbps, a value which is 100 times morethan what the are giving to retail customers. The email implies you can not get capacity which is more than 2Mbps.
By the way in all this the did not let me decide which capacity I wanted, I guess the should be having an algorithm the use to decide what customers need from the number of computers you have at your premises. I think this is wrong since I my have one computer which acts as a VOIP server to 100 clients and this will consume bandwidth in execess of 2Mbps if you are to deliver HD voice.
Any way these are how the new costs compare to the old prices. Thier internet is claimed to be symetric in nature which I doubt in cases for all ISPs in Uganda, the cheat customers on the uplink. So price are given basing on the downlink the provided, you could double the bandwidth if you think the uplink values the give are true
Old pricing
These prices were got from the UCC website
32/32 Monthly Subscription $481
64/32 Monthly Subscription $694
64/64 Monthly subscription $963
New pricing
The below prices include $1400 as connection fees
64/64kbps Monthly Subscription $300
128/128kbps Monthly Subscription $600
256/256kbps Monthly Subscription $1200
512/512kbps Monthly Subscription $2400
So from the information in the public domain we see that a 64kbps link "ISPs call it 128kbps if symentric" the cost has dropped from $963 to $300 dollars which is a significant drop in price but still expensive since seacom prices in the public domain go for $300 per 1Mbps which is more than 200% profit for Infocom.
What about if you wanted to get 1Mbps (512kbps) link from them, this will be the initial cost
Connection fee = $1400
Monthly Subscription $2400 X 3 = $7200 since you must pay quarterly
Total cost = 7200+1400 = $8600
$8600 for a 512kbps link to the consumer after purchaing it for $900 for a quarter (3 month). Infocom only needs one customer to sustain thier business I think UCC should do something which I doubt otherwise SEACOM to Uganda is a gangerin
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