Your neighbour's paying less for fibre. Probably. Let's fix that.
Written by Mechelle Gindra, Editor · Last verified: September 2026
Independent Reviews
Sponsors Always Disclosed
Rankings Are Scored, Not Sold
8 Providers Compared
The top-scored business fibre provider in South Africa is RSAWEB at 7.9/10, and published entry prices run from R309 to R649 a month; Telkom Business Easy Connect starts at R309; RSAWEB, Webafrica and MTN list home-fibre entry prices between R315 and R319; and Vox Telecom's Business Fibre 30/30 is R649 ex VAT (best-effort, no SLA). Four sell month-to-month.
Published entry price
R309–R649
Per month, lowest published tier
Providers compared
8
One five-part rubric, one score
No fixed contract
4 of 8
RSAWEB, Webafrica, Telkom, MTN
Top score
7.9/10
RSAWEB
1. Our top 3 fibre ISP picks for 2026
Sponsored partners are shown first in these picks. Sponsorship never changes a score, a verdict or a position in the comparison table below. How sponsorship works.
★ Sponsored partner
Centracom 7.4/10
Business fibre sourced from 50+ providers, quoted per site Read the review →
★ Sponsored partner
Kinetix Connect 7.1/10
Business fibre, microwave and satellite, quoted per site Read the review →
★ Sponsored partner
Innovo Networks 7.5/10
Dedicated and broadband fibre, plus licensed microwave Read the review →
2. All fibre providers side by side
Sort by score or price, filter by who you're buying for. Every score links to the full review.
Business fibre, microwave and satellite, quoted per site
POA
Not published
Not published
Not published
✗✓✗✗✓
Comparison price is the entry-tier price per line, per month, excluding 15% VAT, shown alongside each provider’s verbatim published price. Installation and router charges are listed separately and are not folded into this figure. Quote-based providers are shown as quote-based. All prices on this page exclude 15% VAT.
Do this: check which networks reach your address, then shortlist only the ISPs that sell on them.
2. Check contention, not just headline speed
Problem: On a shared line, the speed you pay for can drop when other customers are online.
Vox Telecom Business Fibre (from R649 a month ex VAT) is best-effort, with contention up to 10:1.
Vox Dedicated fibre is uncontended, from R2,349 a month for 20/20 Mbps.
Innovo Networks offers 1:1 (uncontended), 1:2 and 1:4 contention, quoted per site.
Telkom Business Easy Connect is a best-effort service.
Contention shows when everyone is online, so test speed in the evening as well as during office hours.
Ask: the contention ratio on the package you are quoted, and whether it is best-effort or backed by an SLA.
3. Work out the real first-year cost
Problem: The monthly fee leaves out installation, router and exit costs, which change the total.
RSAWEB home fibre is month-to-month with free installation, setup and router, and no sign-up fee.
MTN Fibre's home range is month-to-month with free installation and a free-to-use router.
Webafrica's setup depends on the network: free on its R319 Web Connect package, and R999 plus a R249 processing fee on its cheapest R269 package. Webafrica also charges a R999 termination fee on every fibre cancellation.
Vox Telecom includes installation on a 36-month contract. Telkom Business includes it on a 12-month Easy Connect term.
Ask: for the 12-month total: monthly fee, installation, router and the cost of leaving.
4. Business vs residential fibre: when to pay more
Problem: A home package is cheaper, but it may not be sold to a business and usually carries no SLA.
RSAWEB home fibre from R315 cannot be ordered for a business. Its business FTTB starts at R1,170 a month ex VAT, with an SLA and an account manager.
MTN's R319 entry is its home fibre range. MTN Business Broadband Fibre (10 to 100 Mbps symmetrical) has no published price or SLA.
Webafrica is home-focused, with no separate business packages, SLA or static IP published.
Vox Telecom Business Fibre from R649 ex VAT is best-effort. Premium, with an SLA, starts at R1,049, and Dedicated at R2,349.
A one-person office on email and cloud apps can often run on a home package, where the ISP allows it. A team that takes payments or calls over the line needs the SLA.
Decide: if an hour offline costs more than the monthly gap to an SLA-backed tier, buy the SLA.
5. Plan for power cuts and line failures
Problem: The fibre network may stay up, but your ONT and router need power, and a cut line takes you offline.
Vox Telecom sells fibre-plus-fibre or fibre-plus-wireless failover as a paid add-on.
RSAWEB sells Business Fixed LTE as a separate failover product.
Innovo Networks offers automatic 5G and LTE failover and bonded links.
Webafrica, Telkom Business, MTN Business and Centracom publish no data failover option.
Ask: what failover the ISP sells, what it costs, and whether it switches over automatically. Put the ONT and router on a UPS either way.
6. Read the SLA before signing
Problem: Without a written SLA you have no measure of the service and no credit when it fails.
Vox Telecom Premium: 99% link availability, 4-hour response and 12-hour restore. Dedicated: 99.5% uptime, 30-minute response and downtime reimbursement.
Innovo Networks quotes 99.00% to 99.99% availability, depending on the service.
RSAWEB gives a business-grade SLA on FTTB but publishes no uptime figure for SME packages.
Telkom Business Easy Connect, Webafrica and MTN Business publish no fibre SLA. Centracom states 99.9% core network uptime but no fibre SLA.
A useful SLA names four things: the uptime figure, the response time, the restore time and the credit when they are missed. "Best effort" names none of them.
Ask: for the uptime figure, response and restore times, and the credit if they are missed, in writing.
✓
The short version: check which networks actually reach your address, price the full first year including installation and router, and prefer month-to-month unless the contract buys you a real SLA.
!
Compare like for like: each entry price is the ISP's lowest published monthly price, and several are home packages. RSAWEB's R315 and MTN's R319 are home ranges; RSAWEB business FTTB starts at R1,170 ex VAT. Line speed, installation and router terms differ, so compare the full first-year cost, not the headline.
4. Open access vs closed networks: why it affects your bill
South Africa's fibre market is split between open-access infrastructure (Openserve, Vumatel, Frogfoot, MetroFibre, Octotel and others) and closed networks where one company owns both the line and the service. On open-access networks, the company that trenched the cable is rarely the company that bills you — you choose any of dozens of ISPs riding on top of the same physical fibre. That competitive layer is the single biggest reason South African fibre has dropped in price every year since 2019. Closed networks are the opposite: the line owner is your only option, pricing changes when they want it to change, and switching providers means cancelling and re-installing.
Before you sign anything, ask the prospective ISP which fibre network operator (FNO) actually owns the line at your address — and whether that FNO is open-access. If it is, run the same coverage check on at least two other ISPs that ride that network and compare prices side-by-side; the same exact line can be priced quite differently depending on which ISP sells it. If your address is on a closed network, your bargaining power is weaker, but you should still ask for fixed-term loyalty discounts and make sure the contract clearly states what happens if the listed speed is not delivered. Reputable ISPs will pro-rate or credit you automatically; less reputable ones will make you fight for every refund.
5. How we score fibre ISPs in South Africa
WhichVoIP's ratings are calculated using a weighted scoring model across five dimensions. Every ISP is evaluated using the same criteria, and no ISP can pay for a higher score or a higher position in the comparison table. Sponsored partners are shown first, and labelled as such, in the top picks above the table. Our revenue comes from connecting users with providers — not from providers buying visibility.
25%
Pricing Value
25%
Feature Set
20%
Customer Reviews
15%
Reliability & Uptime
15%
Support Quality
Scores are recomputed when review data, pricing or features change. The "Last verified" date in the header is the month of the most recent source check behind the facts on this page. Unlike provider-run comparison pages that rank their own products first, WhichVoIP is editorially independent.
Coverage decides your shortlist before price does — check which networks pass your address first.
6. Frequently asked questions
What is fibre internet and how does it work?▼
Fibre internet uses fibre-optic cables to transmit data as pulses of light, delivering speeds of 10 Mbps to 1 Gbps depending on the plan. These cables run from the street or building entrance to your premises, where they connect to a fibre modem that converts the light signal into an electrical one for your router and devices. Fibre is fundamentally different from older copper phone lines (ADSL) or wireless connections — it's the fastest, most stable internet technology widely available in South Africa. Installation typically involves an engineer running the cable through your walls or exterior and setting up the modem, usually taking 1–4 weeks.
How much does fibre cost in South Africa?▼
Across the thirteen fibre providers on WhichVoIP that publish a price, entry packages run from R279 to R795 a month (median R475, sampled to September 2026); RSAWEB's home fibre starts at R315 on Openserve. Business fibre with an SLA costs more: Vox's Premium Business Fibre starts at R1,049 and RSAWEB's business FTTB at R1,170 a month ex VAT. Installation runs from free (RSAWEB, MTN on its home range, and some Webafrica networks) to R999 plus a R249 processing fee on Webafrica's cheapest network; Vox includes installation on a 36-month contract and Telkom on a 12-month term. Check whether the router is included: RSAWEB includes one free. When comparing ISPs, always ask for a total 12-month cost including installation, rental, and any once-off fees.
What's the difference between an FNO and an ISP?▼
An FNO (Fibre Network Operator) owns and maintains the physical fibre-optic cables running through your area. South Africa has five main FNOs: Openserve, Vumatel, Frogfoot, Octotel, and Metro. An ISP (Internet Service Provider) buys bandwidth from the FNO and resells it to you, plus adds customer service, billing, router support, and sometimes value-adds like static IPs or business SLAs. Think of it like electricity: the power utility is like the FNO, and your electricity retailer is like the ISP. You'll often interact only with the ISP, but they're leasing the underlying network from the FNO. This is why you can't just "switch ISPs" if you're unhappy — you can only switch to a different ISP on the same FNO network.
How do I check if fibre is available at my address?▼
Visit the FNO's coverage checker: Openserve (openserve.co.za/coverage), Vumatel (vumatel.co.za/coverage), Frogfoot (frogfoot.co.za), Octotel (octotel.co.za), or Metro (metrofibre.co.za). Enter your address and you'll see what FNOs cover that location. Once you know which FNOs are available, visit the websites of ISPs that operate on those networks to see pricing and speeds. Some ISPs also have online tools that check all FNOs and show available speeds and prices for your address automatically.
How long does fibre installation take?▼
Typical fibre installation takes 2–4 weeks from order to activation. The timeline breaks down as: 1–2 weeks for the FNO to survey your building and plan the cable route (aerial line along poles, or underground duct), 1–2 weeks for cable installation and testing, and 2–3 days for final activation and your modem setup. Openserve and larger FNOs typically take the full 4 weeks; smaller FNOs and existing customers switching ISPs may be faster. Delays happen if your building requires interior cabling (through walls), if the FNO encounters underground obstacles, or during peak demand periods (December, January). Always book early if you have a deadline.
Can I change ISP without changing my fibre line?▼
Yes, if you're switching to another ISP on the same FNO. For example, if you're on Afrihost using Openserve fibre, you can switch to Webafrica (also Openserve) without any cable reinstallation — just a modem change and day's downtime. The process is called ISP migration, takes 1–2 business days, and is usually free or costs R50–R200. However, if you want to switch FNOs (e.g., Openserve to Vumatel), you'll need a new installation, which takes weeks and costs thousands. Always check your current FNO before signing a contract with a new ISP.
What fibre speed do I need for my business?▼
As a rough guide: 10 Mbps handles up to 1–5 remote workers or 2–3 video calls at once; 25 Mbps handles 5–10 users with light cloud usage and 4–5 video calls; 50 Mbps handles 10–20 users, file server backups, and heavy video conferencing; 100 Mbps+ is for 20+ staff, dedicated servers, or real-time processing. These assume no load shedding (if power fails, internet fails). Always buy more speed than you think you need — speeds degrade during peak hours and ISP outages. If the step up from 25 Mbps to 50 Mbps is a small monthly difference on your ISP's price list, take it for the safety margin.
Does fibre work during load shedding?▼
Fibre cables themselves aren't affected by load shedding — the light signals travel regardless. But your fibre modem and WiFi router need power, so they'll go offline when electricity cuts. The FNOs' own infrastructure has backup power (UPS and generators), but your customer equipment doesn't. Solution: buy a UPS battery backup to keep your modem and router running for 2–4 hours during outages. Some ISPs subsidise this for business customers or sell pre-configured battery-backed routers. Advanced options include mobile data failover (Vox sells fibre+wireless failover as an add-on) or load-balancing across fibre and wireless. Budget for UPS backup as part of your fibre setup cost.
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