Having an online presence is critical for businesses in the modern age, and a MyBroadband analysis has revealed that local businesses can get a basic website hosting package for as little as R39 per month. Offering low-priced hosting packages isn't easy for South African hosting providers. Absolute Hosting managing director Jade Benson recently told MyBroadband about the challenges local providers face.
He highlighted overall power costs, associated costs to ensure uninterrupted power supply, and connectivity interruptions as the biggest challenges. Despite the extensive and ongoing load-shedding break in 2024, many areas of South Africa still suffer through bouts of load reduction. "Power costs are the biggest challenge affecting hosting providers in South Africa, particularly as our business model requires 24/7 uninterrupted power," said Benson.
"Unlike traditional brick-and-mortar businesses, which operate during set business hours, we don't have the luxury of closing shop after hours." These costs increase rapidly with demand reduction interventions like load reduction and load-shedding. Benson said data centre providers must increase their capacity to stay online during these outages while hosting providers that use their facilities must either absorb the associated costs or pass.
.. Myles Illidge.