Frogfoot announces big township push — uncapped Internet for R69 per week
Frogfoot has announced the launch of a pilot in Vrygrond and Phillipi in the Western Cape, offering prepaid, uncapped fibre from R69 per week.
Dubbed Frogfoot Rise (styled RISE), the fibre network operator said it would roll out across 40,000 to 45,000 connected homes over the next three to six months.
Frogfoot said both higher-density, underserved areas fall outside its current footprint.
“Frogfoot Networks’ ambition is to bring access to uncapped connectivity to as many South Africans as possible,” said chief product officer David Coleman.
“Of course, this will have to be accomplished through a mix of technologies.”
Coleman said providing communities that border Frogfoot’s footprint with fibre-based wireless connectivity makes more sense.
“Frogfoot RISE will provide them with a more stable and cost-effective Internet experience with uncapped access for less than R10 per day,” he said.
Customers can buy access vouchers starting at R69 for 7 days, with 10Mbps download speeds and 5Mbps uploads.
Frogfoot Rise prepaid access vouchers will go up to 50/25Mbps for 30 days.
Like other low-cost, high-density, and township fibre projects in South Africa, Frogfoot Rise will provide customers with a Wi-Fi-enabled optical network terminal (ONT).
“This means that there is no extra fibre installation required by the ISP, while residents don’t need an additional router in order to access the Internet,” Frogfoot explained.
Traditional fibre installations typically require two devices — an ONT placed by the network operator’s contractor and the Internet service provider’s Wi-Fi-enabled router.
Coleman said that community engagement is critical to rolling out Frogfoot Rise.
“Local partners play a pivotal role in building the fibre network, installing ONTs, conducting activations and recharge campaigns, as well as network maintenance — bringing longer-term benefits to the communities that they live in,” he said.
“Engagement has been going on for some time now in the pilot areas, and working closely with the community enables us to build these virtual highways in a way that local communities feel part of it.”
Frogfoot’s existing schools programme will be extended to Frogfoot Rise coverage areas.
Registered schools will be given a 1Gbps line with the ISP of their choice.
“Frogfoot Networks has been focusing on maximising our investments to date, including evaluating various options for geographic expansion of our network paired with the right offering aimed at improving fibre penetration across more communities,” said Coleman.
“More areas located within close proximity to our fibre backbone with similar characteristics to the pilot areas will be considered beyond the pilot phase.”
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