Affordable uncapped broadband has become pervasive in South Africa, with households able to get a good service at a reasonable price on fiber, 5G, fixed-wireless alternatives, or over a satellite. Less than ten years ago, this was not the case.
South Africa’s fiber revolution began in 2014 when a then-unknown company, Vumatel, won a bid to roll out FTTH in Parkhurst, an affluent Johannesburg suburb. When Vumatel’s network launched in Parkhurst in 2014, an uncapped 100Mbps FTTH connection was R6,500 per month. Just two years later, the price had plummeted to around R1,000.
In addition to increased competition, prices dropped so quickly because of the success of Teraco’s free and open peering initiative at its NAPAfrica Internet exchange point.
Via My Broadband
Read more about South Africa’s Internet infrastructure in our country report and Pulse IXP Tracker.