Cheapest fibre on South Africa’s top ISP

South African households can get entry-level fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) packages on over two dozen fibre networks from one of South Africa’s leading ISPs, priced at an average of R610 per month.

MyBroadband compared the prices of entry-level fibre packages across 27 networks run by 24 companies in June 2024.

There are numerous Internet service providers (ISPs) that offer South African consumers entry-level FTTH products.

For our comparison, we used Afrihost due to the company’s solid reputation in the industry and wide fibre network operator support.

The ISP has repeatedly topped Analytico’s South African ISP rankings, including in 2023 and the first quarter of 2024.

From the 26 entry-level FTTH packages available to general consumers through various fibre networks, the average price through Afrihost was R610.

Download speeds varied from 4Mbps to 75Mbps, with an average of 24Mbps, while upload speeds ranged between 1Mbps and 75Mbps and averaged at 18Mbps.

Due to these significant speed variations, MyBroadband calculated the price-per-Mbps for download speeds, which will be the most important performance metric for most Internet users.

We determined that the average price for 1Mbps of download speed was R25.42.

It should be noted that we excluded certain budget-oriented FTTH packages, such as Frogfoot Air, Openserve Web Connect, and Vuma Reach, as they are available exclusively in low-income areas.

Cheapest vs best value

The most affordable entry-level FTTH package was on Link Layer, priced at R257 per month for a line with a 10Mbps download speed and 10Mbps upload speed (10/10Mbps).

However, users with this package pay R25.70 per Mbps of download speed, slightly higher than the average.

Zoom Fibre’s 15/15Mbps package was the second-cheapest overall but offered better value, with a price of R17.80 for every 1Mbps of download speed.

Out of the five major open-access operators, Vumatel had the cheapest monthly price, while Frogfoot offered the best value.

Vumatel’s 25/25Mbps package for R449 per month was the third-cheapest option overall.

Frogfoot’s 60/30Mbps plan for R597 per month had an effective cost of R9.95 for 1Mbps of download speed, making it the best-value entry-level plan.

It just edged out Octotel’s 75/75Mbps plan, with an effective cost of R10.63 per Mbps.

Most expensive and worst-value options

On the opposite side of the comparison was Lightstruck East’s 20/20Mbps plan for R847 per month, the most expensive entry-level package in real terms.

However, although its R42.35 price for 1Mbps of download speed was also substantially higher than the average, it was nowhere near as bad as Balwin Fibre’s 4/1Mbps package.

While the R559 monthly price of this option might be below the average monthly price, the value is astoundingly poor, with an effective cost of R139.75 for every 1Mbps of download speed.

The table below compares the prices of entry-level FTTH packages available on Afrihost.

The colours used for the prices indicated the following:

• Green — Below average price
• Orange — Up to R5 over average price
• Red — More than R5 over average price