The massive difference in South African fibre prices – Beware which provider you choose

Fibre-to-the-home is the preferred Internet connection for households in South Africa, as it offers higher speeds at a much lower price per Mbps than DSL.

The high cost associated with rolling out a fibre network means that network operators cherry-pick the suburbs where they deploy networks.

A high take-up rate is needed for a fibre provider to invest in a network in a neighbourhood to minimize the risk of big losses.

It is therefore unlikely that a network provider will invest in a neighbourhood where another provider is already active.

This means that residents in a certain area are usually stuck with a single fibre provider, and this will influence the price they pay for FTTH services.

Different FTTH providers charge different wholesale rates to ISPs, who in turn pass these costs onto consumers.

This means an Afrihost subscriber in one area, for example, will pay more for the same FTTH service than their counterpart in another area.

The table below shows the different prices of FTTH services from the same ISP, based on which fibre operator is used.

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