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.
Comsol's Wholesale 5G Network vs Fibre: What's Confirmed
Comsol announced new shareholder backing on 20 August 2026 to build a national wholesale 5G-Advanced home broadband network, already covering more than a million Gauteng households on spectrum it's held since 2022. Here's what's confirmed against Comsol's own release, the coverage-date discrepancy worth flagging, and how it stacks up against fibre.
South Africa's ISPs Just Ranked Every Fibre Network - Octotel's On Top, Vumatel's Last
ISPA's February 2026 perception survey has 45 South African ISPs rating the fibre networks they resell on. Octotel leads the "big 8" at 7.5/10, Vumatel is last at 5.6/10 for a third straight survey - but posted the biggest year-on-year improvement of any network. Here's the full ranking, verified against two independent sources, and what it means against real pricing.
Herotel Is Now SA's Biggest Fibre ISP - What HeroFibre Actually Costs
Herotel overtook every other South African ISP on connected FTTH homes in Q1 2026, per figures it discloses itself. Here's what HeroFibre actually costs today, verified against Herotel's own site, why being closed-access changes who it's really for - updated 18 August 2026 with FastestFibre's own before/after pricing records showing exactly how HeroFibre's tiers were repackaged.
Capitec's Annual Report Just Revealed a Home Connectivity Ambition - Here's What's Actually Confirmed
Capitec's FY2026 annual report shows Capitec Connect's net income more than doubled to R442 million and data usage nearly tripled to 40.5 petabytes - and for the first time, the bank has told investors it wants to "enable home connectivity through partnerships." Here's exactly what that does and doesn't mean if you're a fibre customer today.
Frogfoot Just Launched No-Contract Fibre From R399 - Here's What's In It
Frogfoot switched on a new no-contract fibre tier called Leap on 12 August 2026, first live in Lotus Gardens, Tshwane, with three packages from R399 to R999 a month and weekly prepaid vouchers from R125. Here's what's confirmed, what still needs first-party confirmation, and how it stacks up against Frogfoot's own Rise voucher fibre and Vuma Key/Fibertime.
Herotel Just Told Us How Much Amazon's Satellite Internet Will Cost
Herotel CEO Van Zyl Botha has revealed the pricing strategy behind evry, the Amazon Leo satellite broadband brand Herotel is launching in South Africa: match the company's own fibre prices almost exactly, and hold them stable for three years. Here's what's confirmed, what's still unknown, and what it means if fibre already passes your street.
EAAIF Just Committed $50 Million to the Fibre Backbone Behind South Africa's International Speed
The Emerging Africa & Asia Infrastructure Fund signed a $50 million private debt commitment to Liquid Intelligent Technologies in early August 2026, inside a wider $450 million package for Liquid's 110,000km pan-African fibre network. It's a wholesale/carrier balance-sheet story, not a retail price change - here's what backbone financing actually means for the reliability South African fibre customers experience.
Openserve's CEO Says Its New ISP Will Close a 722,000-Home Connectivity Gap
Telkom CEO Serame Taukobong told Business Day today that Openserve ISP, three weeks old, exists specifically to close the gap between the 1.57 million homes Openserve's fibre passes and the 843,563 it has connected. Here's what's verified, what resellers already charge on the same network, and what to do if you're one of those homes.
Icasa Strike 2026: What It Means for Fibre Wayleave and Spectrum Rules
A Nehawu strike hit Icasa on 6 August 2026 - right as the regulator's draft wayleave and 6GHz spectrum rules are still open. Icasa says it's business as usual, but wouldn't confirm that to a reporter function-by-function. Here's exactly what's verified, what isn't, and what to actually do if you're waiting on fibre.
Openserve Passed 1.57 Million Homes and Connected 843,563 of Them - What Its Q1 FY2027 Results Show
Telkom's 3 August trading update gives the first hard numbers since Openserve launched its own retail ISP in July: homes passed up 10.7%, homes connected up 16.6%, and a connectivity rate that's climbing faster than the network is growing. Here's what the quarter actually shows.
5 Days, 8 Networks, 14 Outages: What SA's Fibre Status Boards Actually Show
We logged every outage Afrihost's public status board posted over 5 days in late July/early August 2026 - 14 incidents across 8 networks, all rated Medium Impact. Here's the full list, what it can't tell you, and how to check your own area.
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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