Openserve’s fibre plans for 2023 — and how its prices compare

Openserve’s fibre plans for 2023 include adding higher-speed packages and developing a scalable fibre network.

MyBroadband asked the fibre network operator (FNO) about its plans for 2023 and whether it planned on launching a commercial 1Gbps package.

“Openserve’s focus remains on providing a scalable next-generation network and higher-speed connectivity solutions by modernising and expanding its network to cater for current and future demand,” it said.

Regarding its 1Gbps package, the FNO said 1Gbps service timelines would be communicated to the market when available.

Openserve — Telkom’s wholesale fixed-line division — is one of the largest FNOs operating in South Africa, with over one million homes passed and around 440,000 connected to its network.

Telkom recently told MyBroadband that Openserve reached the one million homes passed figure in 2022, marking a major milestone for the FNO.

The Telkom-owned FNO is currently running a promotion on its 25Mpbs and 50Mbps packages that will see customers’ download speeds doubled until the end of February.

Those on 100Mbps packages or faster don’t qualify for the deal.

Openserve increased subscribers’ speeds on its 50/25Mbps and 50/50Mbps packages at participating ISPs to 100/25Mbps and 100/50Mbps during the promotional period.

The Telkom board was recently considering merger and acquisition deals from several companies like Rain and MTN.

This raised the question of whether the telecoms company would consider selling off its network infrastructure subsidiary Openserve.

Telkom CEO Serame Taukobong said the company would not consider a deal for only Openserve.

“It is a core asset for us. We are definitely not considering selling a majority of Openserve,” Taukobong said

Discussions regarding the potential merger and acquisition deals were ongoing for some time. However, Telkom recently informed shareholders that it had terminated talks with Rain.

MTN walked away from its deal to buy Telkom in October 2022. It could restart talks now that Telkom has finished considering Rain’s proposal.

Pricing comparison between the four biggest FNOs

The three biggest FNOs in South Africa are Vumatel, Openserve, MetroFibre, and Frogfoot. MyBroadband carried out a fibre price comparison across the four companies using Afrihost as the common Internet service provider (ISP).

To ensure a like-for-like comparison, we selected symmetrical packages where available.

The smallest of the three FNOs — MetroFibre — is the cheapest for lower-tier symmetrical fibre prices, with its 20Mbps, 50Mbps, and 100Mbps packages priced at R497, R697, and R897, respectively.

On the other hand, Openserve and Vumatel don’t offer 20Mbps packages, but Openserve’s 25Mbps fibre line costs R597 per month.

The Telkom-owned FNO turned out to be the most expensive of the four companies when it comes to higher-speed packages.

Vumatel is the cheapest for 200Mpbs and 500Mbps packages, while Frogfoot and MetroFibre come in second for the 200Mbps and 500Mbps speeds, respectively.

However, it should be noted that although Vumatel charges R100 a month less than MetroFibre for its 500Mbps line, it only features an upload speed of 200Mbps. MetroFibre’s 500Mbps product is symmetrical.

A fibre price comparison for various speeds across the four FNOs is summarised in the table below.

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Openserve’s fibre plans for 2023 — and how its prices compare