Openserve, South Africa’s largest telecommunications infrastructure provider, announced it will double the speed of its fibre lines for existing customers. The Telkom-owned company said from 1 March 2021 it will introduce further speed upgrades and price changes on Openserve Fibre Connect and Openserve Copper Connect product offerings
The company added that speed upgrade will come at no extra cost to internet service providers (ISPs). Openserve added that it was offering ISP partners incentives to enable them to easily upgrade their customers.
Openserve, a division of Telkom, currently covers more than 2.4 million households in South Africa. The fibre network operator (FNO), which prides itself on extending internet connectivity beyond cities and into townships, is the preferred partner of most national ISPs, with prices of entry-level packages offered by providers favouring Openserve.
Openserve network covers more than 2.4 million households with fibre either directly to the home (FTTH) or the cabinet (FTTC), with a national coverage spanning metros, urban areas, small towns and townships.
The company said it will soon announce exciting fibre expansion plans to provide FTTH services to the entire FTTC footprint.
Fixed broadband pricing compares favourably to mobile data offerings
Currently, the price per Gigabyte of data that end-users pay over fixed broadband connections compares very favourably to mobile data offers, even when compared to limited-time promotional offers from Mobile providers.
The table below compares the per Gig price a user on Openserve fibre would pay on a typical uncapped package from an ISP, to a typical promotional mobile data deal. This example is based on the current ISP pricing of uncapped packages in the market. The price per Gigabyte rate over our fixed Broadband is expected to drop even more once the price changes alluded to above, take effect and are passed on to end-users. In addition to competitive per gigabyte rates, fixed BB users generally have a more reliable and consistent user experience than mobile BB users.
| Price per Gig based on 1TB usage | |
| 1Tb Mobile Data Promo offer @ R1000 | R 1/Gig |
| Uncapped 10Mbps ISP package over Openserve fibre @R499 pm | 50c/Gig* |
| Uncapped 20Mbps ISP package over Openserve fibre @699 pm | 70c/Gig* |
*It is important to note that on Openserve fibre, the user could use more than 1TB resulting in an even lower per Gig rate.
Openserve self-service app
Openserve launched a self-service app in November 2020. This app enables customers to manage their broadband network connection and internet service at a push of a button.
The Openserve Connect App, which is available in Android and IOS, puts self-service capabilities in the hands of the customer, allowing potential and existing customers to engage with Openserve directly to get their homes connected to the Openserve Broadband network.
A platform that puts the customer’s connected home as a priority. As the leader in Open Access broadband connectivity in South Africa, we are committed to finding new and innovative ways of enabling the flow of information and will continue to work closely with our ISP partners to ensure that together we enable a world-class connected experience for the customer at their home.
“We encourage all customers on Openserve infrastructure, copper or fibre, to download the Openserve Connect App to check whether their line has been upgraded as per our communication. The App has also become a channel through which customers can influence the future roll-out out of fibre in their respective areas by registering their interest on the App.
“We remain focused on connecting as many South Africans as possible to our and to enhancing their internet experience through our reliable connectivity and high-speed networks.”
