{"id":626821,"date":"2026-01-28T14:59:02","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T12:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=626821"},"modified":"2026-01-28T14:59:52","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T12:59:52","slug":"vumatel-wont-fix-what-isnt-broken-after-taking-over-major-fibre-network-operator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/fibre\/626821-vumatel-wont-fix-what-isnt-broken-after-taking-over-major-fibre-network-operator.html","title":{"rendered":"Vumatel won’t fix what isn’t broken after taking over major fibre network operator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Vumatel has assured Herotel customers that it will be “business as usual” for the small town-focused fibre network operator (FNO) following its takeover by South Africa’s largest FNO. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herotel is South Africa’s third-largest fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) operator, with more than 600,000 homes passed by fibre, of which 274,000 are using its FTTH services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also offers dedicated services for businesses, including SD-WAN, enterprise connectivity, managed Wi-Fi, and voice solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vumatel first acquired a 45% stake in Herotel in early 2022. It increased its shareholding to 49.96% in the next few months, before announcing plans to acquire all of Herotel in August 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s competition authorities took more than three years to clear the acquisition, culminating in the Competition Tribunal’s approval of the transaction with conditions in December 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These include that Vumatel must remain an open-access FNO and continue providing its FTTH services to third parties on transparent and non-discriminatory terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, Vumatel is prohibited from using Herotel’s metropolitan backhaul, FTTH, or fibre-to-the-business infrastructure for wholesale services unless it also makes these open access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herotel’s business model is fundamentally different from Vumatel’s. As a closed-access FNO, customers can only purchase services directly from Herotel, not through third-party Internet service providers (ISPs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vumatel credits the open-access model as one of the key factors that made FTTH successful and affordable in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company has also stated that being open access is a key advantage as it expands its Vuma Key network into low-income areas, including townships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many rival operators in that market segment, which is seen as the next major frontier for FTTH growth, operate on a closed-access basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herotel contends that closed access has certain key competitive advantages over open access, including enabling better customer service and lower operating costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because it builds and maintains its own network, it has direct knowledge of any technical issues, eliminating barriers and delays in communicating with customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“By bypassing unnecessary and costly intermediaries, we maintain control over service quality and swiftly address customer needs,” Herotel previously told MyBroadband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At one point, the model enabled Herotel to offer a 50 Mbps FTTH package at a substantially lower price<\/a> than other major providers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using Herotel’s strong community relationships<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Herotel bakkie in informal settlement<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More recently, Herotel won MyBroadband’s Best Speed Index award in 2025<\/a>, recognising its commitment to delivering fast and reliable connectivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also received over 100,000 five-star Q-Contact ratings, which are given immediately after customer interactions. Given Herotel’s success, it could be risky to mess with its operating model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dietlof Mar\u00e9, chief executive officer of Vumatel parent Maziv, previously told MyBroadband that the plan was to let Herotel continue operating on its closed-access model. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In feedback following the acquisition, Vumatel has maintained its position that Herotel will remain a closed-access operator and will operate completely separately from Vumatel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“For customers, it’s business as usual,” Vumatel said. “Existing services, pricing, and contracts remain unchanged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Herotel will continue to operate as an independent brand and will also continue to operate independently under its Electronic Communications Network Services Individual Licence.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to its fibre customer base, the company connects another 50,000 customers to the Internet via fixed-wireless access (FWA), the technology that shaped its early years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Herotel was formed from the consolidation of more than 30 smaller FWA providers, many of which operated in smaller towns and rural areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vumatel argues this characteristic can be leveraged in its vision to expand fibre access across South Africa, particularly in secondary towns and underserved communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Herotel has built strong regional networks and community relationships,” it said. “By bringing that capability into Vuma, we can accelerate high-quality fibre deployment across South Africa.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vumatel has provided clarity on its plans for Herotel, South Africa’s third-largest fibre network operator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":626826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28470],"tags":[103028,101361,78552,20153,97402,103029,29548,54745,60863,79064,25299,55672],"class_list":["post-626821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fibre","tag-closed-access","tag-dietlof-mare-2","tag-fibre-network-operator-fno","tag-fibre-to-the-home-ftth","tag-fixed-wireless-2","tag-fixed-wireless-access-fwa-2","tag-herotel","tag-open-access","tag-vuma","tag-vuma-key","tag-vumatel","tag-wireless-internet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626821"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=626821"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":626865,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/626821\/revisions\/626865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/626826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=626821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=626821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=626821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}