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Almost two years after its first launch, Sky has entered the broadband market in competition with its telecommunications partners.
Sky Television has begun marketing unlimited, high-speed, ultra-fast broadband plans to its pay TV customers today for what seems like a market leading price of $ 79 a month.
Initially, the company only offers the service to about 500,000 Sky Box households that are in ultra-fast broadband (UFB) coverage areas, starting with those that have previously registered interest.
It plans to open Sky Broadband to non-Sky TV customers – roughly two-thirds of households – later in the year, in terms it has yet to disclose.
The launch of Sky Broadband was first proposed in May 2019 and puts Sky in direct competition with Vodafone and Spark, with whom Sky has had varying degrees of partnership over the years.
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Spark offers unlimited full-speed UFB plans for $ 98 a month through its Skinny sub-brand, or for $ 110 through its Spark brand, while Vodafone’s full-speed UFB plan costs $ 103 a month.
A check of the offers on the broadband comparison site Broadband Compare indicates that Sky Broadband also lowers the regular prices of other alternative providers.
But the cost equation can be more complicated if Sky customers have other “packages” they can take advantage of, such as combining broadband with energy or with telecom incentives like Vodafone’s “Best Mates”.
Extreme bargain hunters could beat Sky prices by switching providers annually in hopes of taking advantage of introductory deals.
As with other retailers’ high-speed UFB services, Sky Broadband should provide download speeds of approximately 900 megabits per second and upload speeds of approximately 400 Mbps.
Most households can also find little to no performance difference with cheaper UFB plans that offer limited speeds, typically 100 Mbps.
However, Sky’s offering appears designed to add a significant portion of its pay TV customer base.
Sky broadband chief Dan Kelly said he will offer other plan options soon.
“Intensive entertainment users often require more bandwidth, [but] We know that not all the needs of our customers are the same, particularly those with smaller homes or lighter broadband needs, ”he said.
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Sky TV CEO Sophie Moloney has said that launching broadband was her top operational priority.
Sky’s $ 79 broadband plan includes a WiFi 6 router, the latest standard, and has a 12-month contract. A home phone service costs an additional $ 10 per month.
Customers will be able to get up to two WiFi amplifiers to improve coverage within their homes for an additional $ 10.
If customers cancel their Sky Starter TV package during the term of their Sky Broadband service, their cost will increase to $ 103 more typical per month.
Sky CEO Sophie Moloney said last year that launching Sky Broadband was her top operational priority.
“I think it’s definitely the right thing to do to deliver value to our loyal customers,” he said at the time.
About 84 percent of New Zealand households have access to UFB, and it is expected to increase to 87 percent by the end of next year.
Sky does not offer copper or wireless broadband service for people outside of UFB’s coverage area.
Rachael Kelly / Stuff
Households must be in a UFB coverage area and currently Sky Starter subscribers in order to purchase company broadband.
The service has been developed through a partnership with Slingshot and Orcon’s owner Vocus NZ, which has provided Sky with network infrastructure and technical expertise.
Kelly said Sky staff would take care of Sky Broadband provisioning, but Vocus would initially provide level one technical support to customers, should they have a technical problem.
“This will then completely pass to Sky. Vocus will manage some of the daily customer support, like when a customer has a service problem, ”he said.
It is understood that Sky expects the broadband offering to reduce churn among its traditional satellite TV customer base and, at the same time, generate a new revenue stream for the company as satellite TV revenues decline. .
Kelly said customer feedback prior to launch had been “package and deal usually come first, but customer service second.”
“We understand what matters to them and we are going to do our best with a Kiwi team,” he said.
