Fibre News
What's actually happening in South African fibre - network ratings, price moves, mergers and rollouts - tracked daily and explained in plain English.
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Tracked daily from the South African fibre industry.
Icasa's New Rollout Rules Are Out - And They Skip the Wayleave Fix Industry Asked For
Icasa's draft Rapid Deployment Regulations set fines of up to R1 million and new notice periods for network operators - but say nothing about how long municipalities can take to approve a wayleave. ACT's CEO says that gap is still open, and reckons final rules could be two years away.
PricingGigabit Speeds for R5 a Day: Inside Fibertime's Township Fibre Network
TechCentral clocked 1Gbit/s download on Fibertime's Alexandra network in June - ten times the operator's own "up to 100 Mbps" marketing - while the pay-as-you-go fibre operator races toward a million connected township homes. Here's what's verified, what isn't, and whether R5-a-day actually beats a monthly contract.
Why Vodacom Just Cut Its Dividend to Fund Its Fibre Push
Vodacom's board has lowered its dividend payout floor from 75% to 65% of headline earnings - and a big part of the freed-up cash is going straight into Maziv, the group behind Vumatel, to finish paying for the Herotel takeover. Here's what the trade-off means for SA fibre's consolidation and for your bill.
1Gbps Fibre Price Comparison 2026: Openserve vs Vumatel vs Frogfoot vs Octotel
"Gigabit fibre" means different things on different networks. We checked live reseller pricing on every major SA network's fastest tier - Frogfoot's is truly symmetrical, Openserve and Vumatel's cheapest gigabit lines aren't, and Octotel's real gigabit-class product runs at 2.5Gbps. Full price and value breakdown.
Icasa Just Told Starlink Exactly How to Get a Licence
Icasa says it can't issue Starlink a new satellite licence - but it can approve a licence transfer from an existing holder. Here's the workaround Icasa confirmed on 29 June 2026, why the 30% ownership deadlock still isn't solved, and what it means if you're weighing satellite against fibre.
Icasa Just Settled the 6GHz Spectrum Fight: What It Means for Your Fibre Wi-Fi
Icasa gazetted South Africa's updated National Radio Frequency Plan on 24 July 2026, giving mobile operators the upper 6GHz band while permanently protecting the lower band for Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7. Here's why that matters even though almost nobody in SA is using 6GHz yet.
Icasa's 2026 ICT Report: Fibre Grew 22%, But SA Fell 13 Places in Global Broadband Rankings
Icasa's State of the ICT Sector Report shows SA fibre subscriptions passed 3 million in 2025, up 22% - but entry-level fixed broadband is now the least affordable in BRICS, and South Africa's global fixed-broadband ranking fell 13 places to 115th of 152 countries. Here's what the regulator's own numbers mean for your bill.
What Really Happens When Your Fibre Line Breaks? Cable Repairs, Status Pages and Getting Back Online
A confirmed Octotel fibre break cut 47 streets in Strand, Western Cape offline for over four hours on 24 July 2026. Here's exactly how a fibre cable repair works, how to tell whether a fault is on the network or in your house, and what South African consumers can actually expect in compensation and support.
Does Your Fibre Need a UPS in 2026? Power Outages, Cable Theft and Staying Online
Eskom's winter 2026 outlook predicts no scheduled load shedding - but Johannesburg logged 19 cable-theft and vandalism incidents in a single weekend in July, and a Komani substation attack cut power to thousands. Here's why your fibre still depends on power at your own wall socket, and how to size a UPS that actually helps.
MTN Wants to 'Own the Household': Inside Its Plan for 30% of SA's Home Internet Market
MTN CEO Ferdi Moolman says the company wants 30% of South Africa's home fixed-internet market by 2030 - up from roughly 6% today - using a four-brand mix of fibre, 5G and dedicated fixed wireless. Here's the strategy, the numbers, and what it means if you're comparing fibre against MTN's wireless options.
PolicyOpenserve Fires Back in the Fibre ISP Row
Openserve says Openserve ISP holds roughly 21% of homes passed and 20% of connected homes - 'well below' the Competition Act's dominance threshold. Wireless and independent ISPs say the market-share defence dodges the real complaint: freebies concentrated on premium packages, not the cheap ones, and no audited proof of equal treatment.
Icasa Wants a Map of Every Fibre Cable in SA - Telkom Warns It's a Security Risk
Icasa's draft rapid deployment regulations would force every fibre network operator to hand over a geo-mapped database of routes, poles and ducts twice a year. Telkom warned the plan could become a blueprint for 'construction mafia and spies' - here's what Regulation 7 requires, why the industry is pushing back, and what's next.
Every SA Fibre Price Increase in 2026, Network by Network
Frogfoot in February, Openserve and Vumatel in April, Octotel in May - and MetroFibre still to come. Here's every confirmed 2026 wholesale fibre price change in South Africa, with full price tables, dates and what to check on your own invoice.
Google Is Building South Africa's Newest Gateway to the World's Internet
Google has confirmed the Eastern Cape as the landing site for a new subsea cable hub linking South Africa directly to Australia and India - the first new international gateway of its kind on SA's east coast. Here's what a Digital Exchange Port actually is, and what it could mean for your fibre line.
NetworksOne 43-Year-Old Ship in Cape Town Guards All of Africa's Internet
A global report adopted in Geneva on 10 July 2026 found Africa shares just 13% of the world's cable-repair ships - and relies on a single 43-year-old vessel based in Cape Town. Here's what it means when your fibre slows down after an undersea cable break.
Amazon Just Solved the Problem That Kept Starlink Out of South Africa
Herotel - owned by Maziv, the same group behind Vumatel - has struck a distribution deal with Amazon's satellite network to launch evry, sidestepping the Icasa ownership rule that's kept Starlink locked out for years. Here's how the deal works, why SA's biggest fibre operator is the one doing it, and what it means if you're still waiting for fibre.
Six to 12 Months, Thousands of Rand: Why Municipalities Are Fibre's Biggest Bottleneck
The Association of Comms & Technology has asked Icasa to force municipalities to approve fibre wayleaves within 30 working days or pay for the delay - here's why 257 town halls have become the single biggest obstacle to getting fibre to your street, and what a fix could look like.
Openserve Just Became Its Own Competitor: Inside the ISP Launch Rattling Wholesale Partners
Openserve has launched a direct-to-consumer ISP selling its own fibre - reversing two decades of wholesale/retail separation and drawing anti-competitive concerns from the 200+ ISPs that resell its network. Here's what changed, why it matters, and what it could mean for your bill.
SA's Fibre Underdogs Are Beating the Giants: Inside the 2026 Ispa Network Ratings
Ispa's February 2026 survey of 45 ISPs found six smaller fibre network operators outscoring six of the country's eight biggest names. Here's what the ratings actually measure, why Vumatel jumped and Link Africa slid, and what it means for your next fibre signup.
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