South Africa’s two biggest fibre networks announce price increases

Internet service provider (ISP) Afrihost has started notifying customers about price increases for its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) products on Vumatel and Openserve.

In e-mails seen by MyBroadband, the ISP told customers the changes were necessary because the FNOs had increased their prices.

“This, unfortunately, means that you’ll be paying more per month,” Afrihost told clients. Both Vumatel and Openserve have previously confirmed adjustments to their FTTH prices from April 2026.

As of early 2026, the country’s two biggest FNOs have passed a combined 3 million households, of which roughly 1.8 million are connected to their networks.

ISPs often sell FTTH packages with small profit margins over what they pay for FNOs’ lines on wholesale. When FNOs raise prices, they generally have little choice but to pass the higher costs on to consumers.

Many other ISPs will likely follow suit with their own announcements of price adjustments on Openserve and Vumatel in the next few days, as these notices are often sent more than a month in advance.

One major ISP told MyBroadband that Openserve’s increases were exponentially larger than Vumatel’s. “We therefore expect to see churn away from them to other FNOs or technologies,” the ISP said.

Apart from the entry-level 30/30Mbps product, all of Afrihost’s Openserve FTTH packages are increasing by R50 per month.

The biggest increase, in relative terms, is on the 50/25Mbps line, where the adjustment from R647 to R697 a month reflects a 7.7% hike.

Afrihost’s 50/25Mbps Vumatel customers are getting a R40 price increase, resulting in an effective increase of 5.8% over their old price.

The entry-level 25Mbps product has been replaced with a 30Mbps line, accompanied by a R28 price increase. Prices of the symmetric 50Mbps and both the 1Gbps Vumatel lines have remained the same.

The tables below summarise the price adjustments for Afrihost customers resulting from the Vumatel and Openserve wholesale price changes.

Vumatel

Openserve

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