Best and worst fibre networks in South Africa — according to ISPs

Openserve, Metrofibre and Octotel are the major fibre network operators (FNOs) with the most positive perceptions among Internet service providers (ISPs) in South Africa.

That is according to an FNO perception survey conducted by the Internet Service Providers’ Association of South Africa (Ispa).

48 ISPs participated in the survey, which asked Ispa members to rate each FNO based on several metrics, with scores from zero to ten.

Telkom’s wholesale fixed-line division Openserve scored highest for value for money (7.1), reliability (8.4), technical proficiency (7.4), optimism about the future (6.9), and the likelihood of recommending the network to other ISPs (7.3).

Metrofibre recorded the highest scores for friendliness of staff (7.4) and business processes (7.2), while Octotel came out on top for support (7.3) and software systems (7.4).

Openserve and Link Africa shared the highest score (7.3) for adhering to open access principles, while Metrofibre and Frogfoot tied for best communications (6.7).

South Africa’s biggest fibre-to-the-home network provider — Vumatel — scored second-lowest of the major networks that were ranked by more than 10 ISPs.

Other large operators that performed poorly were Vodacom (4.1), Lightstruck (4.4), and Liquid Intelligent Technologies (4.7). However, it should be noted that these scores are based on fewer ratings. Liquid was rated by 9 ISPs, and Vodacom and Lightstruck by eight.

The table below shows the average scores across all metrics for the top 10 FNOs in Ispa’s perception survey with over eight ratings.

Ispa said ISPs generally rated the technical proficiency, reliability and staff of FNOs the highest, while poor support and communications tended to drag down the scores.

FNOs rated by fewer ISPs generally received lower overall scores, but Link Layer (6.1) and TT Connect (6.0) fared well overall and were rated by more than five ISPs.

Ispa said it was focused on ensuring a smooth working relationship between FNOs and ISPs, underpinned by open-access principles that allow South Africans a choice of providers.

“Ispa has spent the last year engaging with its members and FNO to develop a set of Fibre Network Operator and Internet Service Provider Best Practice Recommendations designed to ensure that FNOs and ISPs work together to deliver seamless, cost-effective fibre-based internet services to South Africans,” the organisation said.

“These recommendations are being finalised and will be released shortly.”

The table below from Ispa shows the scores of all 36 FNOs included in the survey. An interactive version that allows users to sort the FNOs by the different measured metrics is available on Ispa’s website.

Click to enlarge the table.

Now read: South Africa’s fibre challengers