South Africa’s fibre challengers
South Africa’s major fibre network players are companies like Vumatel, Openserve, Frogfoot, and Metrofibre.
However, several smaller fibre network operators (FNOs), including Zoom Fibre, Octotel, Evotel, Mitsol, and TT Connect, could present a significant threat to their dominance in the future.
For example, Zoom Fibre was the first FNO in South Africa to have reached 100,000 homes passed, and it plans on continuing with its fibre network builds.
A recent MyBroadband analysis of high-speed fibre packages — namely, 500Mbps and 1Gbps lines — revealed that these smaller FNOs are often highly competitive with major operators regarding their consumer pricing.
For example, Afrihost charges R1,197 per month for Zoom Fibre’s asymmetrical 500Mbps package. This is the same price charged for MetroFibre’s 500Mbps package and R100 less than Vumatel’s 500Mbps line.
Some of the country’s smaller FNOs that are taking to the fight to the country’s top providers are listed below.
Zoom Fibre
Zoom Fibre lays claim to being the fastest FNO in South Africa to reach 100,000 homes passed.
The company achieved the feat in June 2022, just two years after its launch in 2020.
It aims to pass 200,000 homes with its network by the end of 2023, while expanding its fibre-to-the-business network will also be a major focus.
The FNO’s rapid rollout has provided coverage across five South African provinces — Gauteng, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal, the North West province, and the Western Cape.
Zoom Fibre offers various fibre packages, with speeds ranging from 10Mbps to 1Gbps, and it has partnered with several Internet service providers (ISPs), including Afrihost, Mweb, and Cool Ideas.
Mohammed Manjra, Zoom Fibre CEO
Octotel
Octotel is an open-access fibre network based in the Western Cape, with most of its coverage being in Cape Town. It also offers fibre connectivity in several other coastal towns in the province.
Its fibre speeds range from 25Mbps to 1Gbps, with prices starting from R470 per month for its lowest tier package.
As of May 2023, the FNO had passed 315,583 with its fibre network and connected 100,815. This translates to a connectivity rate of almost 32%.
Scott Cunningham, Octotel COO, recently told MyBroadband that the company would continue to build its trenched fibre networks at a consistent month-on-month rate.
“We have seen positive results from the communities that to date may not be a priority for many other operators,” he said.
Evotel
Open-access fibre-to-the-home network operator Evotel says it offers a stable and uncompromised network, with 95% of its network supported by backup fibre links.
It says this keeps its customers online even when a fibre link breaks.
It sells fibre packages with speeds starting at 10Mbps and topping out at 1Gbps, with prices for its asymmetrical 10Mbps package starting at R549 per month.
While the company is currently focusing on its existing networks, general manager Bradley Bekker told MyBroadband that it would commit to building into new areas if the public need arises.
Mitsol
Mitsol was formed in 1999, and the company embarked on building and deploying KwaZulu-Natal’s first fibre-to-the-home network through a joint venture with Link Africa in 2015.
The company has since established itself as one of the biggest local fibre-to-the-home operators in the province, having passed just over 20,000 homes to date.
It offers speeds ranging from 10Mbps up to 1Gbps, with prices starting at R389 per month.
The company is currently offering a promotion on its 10Mbps/2Mbps line through ResiNet, which will see customers pay R299 per month.
However, it isn’t clear how long the reduced price will be in effect.
TT Connect
TT Connect says its fibre networks maintain 99.99% uptime thanks to multi-peering agreements with large global carriers to ensure its international traffic remains unaffected by outages.
“We currently own the best fibre infrastructure in the east of Johannesburg, and this is not by our own admission; it is evident in the selection of quality service providers making use of our network,” it says.
Spanning from Bedfordview to Benoni, TT Connect’s fibre network passes more than 300,000 homes.
It offers several packages, with speeds ranging from 15Mbps to 1Gbps, depending on the ISP selected.
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