Openserve 1Gbps home fibre launch date revealed

Telkom’s wholesale division, Openserve, has confirmed that it plans to launch its first 1Gbps fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) product within the next few weeks.

Although the fibre network operator (FNO) is one of the largest FTTH providers in South Africa, it has yet to offer gigabit speeds on regular home fibre connections.

“We are excited to announce the launch of our 1Gbps FTTH product, which is set for mid-June 2026,” Openserve told MyBroadband, adding it would share more details on the milestone in due course.

A 1Gbps connection enables users to download files at up to 128 megabytes per second (MB/s). While many homes can get by on much slower speeds, it can benefit homes with lots of connected devices.

The bandwidth can be split across multiple devices and applications simultaneously, ensuring no buffering or slowdowns.

This could be useful for households that are increasingly congested with Internet-connected devices and data-intensive applications such as streaming or video viewing.

In recent years, many MyBroadband forum members who are also Openserve FTTH users appealed to the FNO to add 1Gbps speeds.

Openserve previously told MyBroadband that offering 1Gbps FTTH services would further enhance its home connectivity services.

“Openserve remains focused on strengthening its position as South Africa’s leading wholesale fibre infrastructure provider and expanding access to high-quality connectivity across the country,” it said.

It added that it already operated the second-largest fibre network in the country and boasted the highest connectivity rate in the market.

Openserve said it planned to build on this strong foundation by expanding its footprint to reach more communities in the country.

“Our objective is clear: connect as many South Africans as possible to reliable, future-ready fibre infrastructure,” the FNO said.

“By working closely with our Internet service provider partners, we aim to accelerate fibre adoption and ensure that more households and businesses can participate fully in the digital economy.”

Openserve already offers a 1Gbps fibre-to-the-room (FTTR) product, but that requires expensive equipment and carries higher monthly fees than competing 1Gbps FTTH products.

Prices started at around R3,000 per month on a two-year contract for 1Gbps FTTR connections from Openserve when the product launched locally in 2023.

1Gbps fibre product for people that hate bad Wi-Fi

FTTH uses fibre optic cables up to a building’s optical network terminal (ONT). From there, connectivity to devices is established using Wi-Fi or copper-based Ethernet cables.

FTTR, developed by Huawei, foregoes all copper cabling and Wi-Fi extenders for large home and business networks. Openserve launched FTTR in partnership with Huawei in 2023.

Fibre-optic cabling is used to connect multiple edge ONTs across the premises to deliver a high-speed connectivity experience.

The product is ideal for households and businesses frustrated with patchy or slow Wi-Fi coverage and speeds.

In early 2026, Openserve told MyBroadband that the FTTR product had seen significant interest from Internet service providers (ISPs), especially for customers in upmarket estates.

The FNO said user feedback had been overwhelmingly positive, with users applauding the improved in-home coverage, consistent high-speed connectivity, and improved performance.

Based on customer feedback, Openserve added support for multiple lower-speed tiers, and some ISPs have started offering the product on a month-to-month basis.

The table below summarises the prices of residential FTTR products from Platinum Broadband, one of Openserve’s partner ISPs for FTTR.

Don't miss the latest news

• Add MyBroadband as a preferred source in Google Search
• Follow MyBroadband on Google News