Major fibre network operator launching cheaper packages — with a catch

South Africa’s second largest fibre network operator (FNO), Openserve, is launching a more affordable entry-level fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) package for its middle-to-higher income users.

However, several Internet service providers (ISPs) have confirmed to MyBroadband that only new subscribers will be able to take up the product.

Details of the new product emerged after a representative of a major ISP posted about it on the MyBroadband forum.

They explained that a package with symmetric 30Mbps download and upload speeds was rolling out on Openserve FTTH and that details about the service would be available soon.

Several MyBroadband forum members were optimistic about the news, including one who said it would be “perfect for his mother-in-law”.

Openserve’s current entry-level offering is a 50/25Mbps line, which is selling for around R650 to R750 from major ISPs.

That product could be considered “too fast” for the requirements of less data-demanding users.

The introduction of a more affordable 30/30Mbps could have brought some small financial relief to many of Openserve’s more budget-strained customers.

However, a note on the Afrihost website suggested that this may not be on the cards. It explained the product was only available to new sign-ups, with migrations and regrades also excluded.

After querying the development with several ISPs, we confirmed that Openserve was not making the package available for existing users who may want to downgrade to reduce their monthly Internet bill.

Like several other FNOs, Openserve has gradually increased its FTTH speeds and “force-upgraded” customers to higher speeds in recent years.

For some time until early 2023, its entry-level package was an asymmetric 25/10Mbps package.

In April of that year, this was upgraded to 40/20Mbps. Just few months later, Openserve again increased speeds on its entry-level package — this time to 50/25Mbps.

These changes have made its entry-level offerings uncompetitive with those of its two biggest competitors — Vumatel and MetroFibre — which still sell 25Mbps and 20Mbps FTTH products.

When MyBroadband recently compared the entry-level speeds offered by major FNOs, Openserve ranked as the most expensive of South Africa’s major networks and the eighth most expensive of over 30 countries.

The company does sell 20Mbps and 40Mbps lines, but these are exclusive to its lower-income Web Connect product, which is only available in certain areas.

Price breakdown

At the time of publication, six major ISPs had confirmed pricing for the new package to MyBroadband.

There was little separating the providers, with all coming in below R500. At the time of publication, the most affordable option was Supersonic’s at R469 per month.

If customers on the 50/25Mbps plan with this ISP were allowed to downgrade, they would be paying R220 — or 32% less per month.

The most expensive ISPs for the product were Mweb and Webafrica. Had Openserve allowed their customers to downgrade, they could have reduced their monthly bills by 29% and 25%, respectively.

The table below compares the pricing of Openserve’s 30/30Mbps FTTH product with the most affordable 50/25Mbps package for existing users.