The former medical device salesman providing affordable Internet in South African townships

Former medical device salesman Albert Oosthuysen’s investment in a small fibre company in 2008 set the stage for him to launch Internet service provider (ISP) Net Nine Nine.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Oosthuysen detailed his journey in expanding Internet access to townships and the challenges he faced along the way.

He had been working for a contractor in the fibre network sector, providing Internet access to suburbs, before co-founding Evotel and, ultimately, Net Nine Nine.

“We said we should build our own network that we can basically monetise over a long period of time. And that’s how Evotel started; it was the first one in the journey,” said Oosthuysen.

However, he explained that the launch wasn’t without its challenges. After securing bank funding, Oosthuysen tried to expand to a township in Rustenberg, which led to a fight with the local municipality.

This resulted in a court battle, which Oosthuysen’s company lost.

It was around this time when he brought in Nicholas Thipe, current chief of staff at Net Nine Nine. Thipe helped gain insights into what communities wanted.

“Turns out all the locals wanted was for us to hire people from the community for the project,” said Oosthuysen.

Targeting the largely untapped township market, he got funders on board and launched Net Nine Nine in 2020.

He explained that the key was building trust with communities.

“They needed to know that we would keep our promises, and we do,” he said.

Oosthuysen said another major challenge was that many township customers could not make electronic payments and wanted to pay cash for Net Nine Nine’s services.

It opened brick-and-mortar stores to enable customers to pay cash for its services.

Since then, the company has grown to employ 200 permanent staff and 300 contractors. It has networks in 15 townships, providing connectivity to more than 214,000 households in eight provinces.

According to Net Nine Nine’s website, it has 11 physical stores in areas like Kagiso, Westonaria, Thabong, Phuthaditjhaba, and Hammanskraal. It has five more stores planned.

Infinite Partners’ Core Equity Fund and co-investment firms acquired a strategic interest in Net Nine Nine and Oosthuysen’s initial fibre venture, Evotel, in early 2025.

Evotel is a fibre network operator with coverage in towns and cities in the central and northern parts of the country, including Welkom, Krugersdorp, and Rustenberg.

It operates on an open-access basis, enabling customers to purchase its uncapped fibre-to-the-home packages from a choice of ISPs.

The Competition Commission approved the deal for Infinite Partners to acquire Evotel, Net Nine-Nine, Link Layer, and Magnolia Tree without conditions in November 2024.

“The Commission is of the view that the proposed transaction is unlikely to substantially lessen or prevent competition in any market,” it said.

“The proposed transaction does not raise significant public interest concern.”

Infinite Partners explained that it has consolidated Net Nine-Nine, Evotel, and Link Layer into a single holding company: Fibre Holdco.

Fibre Holdco is dedicated to expanding affordable fibre connectivity to historically underserved communities, including townships and rural mining towns across the country.