Fibre in Johannesburg 2026: Coverage, Prices and Providers

Johannesburg’s fibre market in 2026 is bigger, more competitive and more varied than it was even a few years ago. South Africa has now passed 3 million FTTH (fibre-to-the-home) and FTTB (fibre-to-the-building) subscriptions, major fibre networks continue to expand, and lower-cost fibre models are extending fixed internet into areas that were previously dependent on mobile data.

But there is an important catch when looking specifically at Johannesburg: most large industry datasets are still published nationally, while actual fibre availability is decided at street and address level.

This report brings together the latest available regulator, network operator, municipal and industry data to give a clearer view of the state of fibre in Johannesburg in 2026, while separating what we know about Johannesburg specifically from the national figures that also provide useful context about the state of fibre in South Africa.

Last updated: August 2026

Key fibre statistics for 2026

Sources: ICASA, Telkom/Openserve and Vodacom disclosures.

These numbers should not be read as Johannesburg market-share figures. Reliable public data showing exactly how many Johannesburg households are connected to each fibre network is not currently published.

Fibre has become South Africa’s dominant fixed broadband technology

The clearest shift in South Africa’s home internet market is the speed at which fibre has replaced older fixed technologies.

ICASA recorded 3,006,836 fibre-to-the-home and fibre-to-the-building subscriptions in 2025, compared with 1,488,483 in 2023. That means the reported fibre subscriber base more than doubled in two years.

The same dataset recorded 3,264,271 fixed broadband subscriptions in total.

Using those figures:

3,006,836 ÷ 3,264,271 = approximately 92.1%

So FTTH and FTTB now account for roughly 92% of South Africa’s fixed broadband subscriptions.

That is one of the strongest indicators of how far the fixed internet market has shifted. DSL subscriptions, by comparison, declined from 316,825 in 2021 to 227,420 in 2025.

Johannesburg sits at the centre of that shift, although ICASA does not publish a separate FTTH subscription count for the city.

Who owns the fibre under Johannesburg’s streets?

One of the most confusing things about fibre is that the company selling you internet is often not the company that owns the cable.

A fibre network operator, or FNO, builds and maintains the fibre infrastructure. An internet service provider, or ISP, sells the internet package that runs over that network.

That means a Johannesburg household could have physical infrastructure from Vumatel or Openserve, for example, while buying its internet package from Infini-fi or another ISP.

Among the larger fibre networks relevant to Johannesburg are:

Vumatel and Maziv

Vumatel forms part of Maziv, alongside Dark Fibre Africa. Following the completion of the Vodacom transaction on 1 December 2025, Vodacom owns a 30% interest in Maziv. Daily Maverick reported on the completed transaction.

Vodacom reported in early 2026 that Maziv’s FTTH footprint exceeded 2.8 million homes passed nationally. See the Vodacom trading update.

Vumatel has historically been particularly important in Johannesburg because the modern residential fibre boom can trace part of its history back to the company’s first Parkhurst deployment in 2014.

Its Johannesburg relevance now extends beyond affluent northern suburbs. Vuma Reach and similar lower-cost models have expanded fibre into areas including Soweto, making the city’s fibre story increasingly about affordability as well as availability.

Openserve

Openserve, the wholesale infrastructure business within Telkom, remains one of South Africa’s largest fibre networks.

Telkom’s FY2026 results show that Openserve increased its homes passed by 11.6% to 1,539,209, while homes connected grew 17.7% to 817,540.

Its connectivity rate reached 53.1%. See Telkom Group.

That figure is particularly useful because it illustrates an important difference between passing a home with fibre and actually connecting it.

A neighbourhood may have fibre infrastructure in the street without every household subscribing to it.

Other networks

Because fibre coverage can change from road to road, it is not accurate to say that one FNO simply “covers Sandton” or another “owns Johannesburg South”. Address-level coverage remains the reliable way to establish what is available at a specific home.

Johannesburg fibre coverage is increasingly about choice, not just availability

Johannesburg’s first fibre rollout phase was largely about getting fibre into neighbourhoods that did not have it.

The next phase is different.

In established fibre suburbs, the question is increasingly:

How many networks can I choose from?

Some addresses now sit within the footprint of more than one FNO. Others still have one physical fibre network available. In developing or newly connected areas, fibre may only recently have become available at all.

That makes Johannesburg difficult to summarise with one citywide “coverage percentage”.

The most accurate picture is address-specific.

For households, the practical process remains simple: check the exact property before comparing packages. A suburb appearing on an ISP or FNO coverage list does not guarantee that every complex, estate or road within that suburb is serviceable.

Soweto and township fibre are changing the shape of the market

Some of the most important changes in Johannesburg fibre are happening outside the suburbs that drove the first FTTH boom.

Historically, fibre rollout favoured areas where operators could expect relatively high subscription rates and higher monthly spend. New lower-cost models are beginning to change that.

What is Vuma Reach?

Vuma Reach is Vumatel’s lower-cost fibre model designed to extend fixed internet access into higher-density communities, including parts of Soweto. It gives households access to fibre without relying on the same pricing and package structure used in many traditional suburban fibre areas.

How does prepaid fibre work?

Prepaid fibre allows households to pay for connectivity without committing to a conventional monthly contract. Products vary by network, but the model is particularly relevant in areas where affordability and flexible spending are important.

This matters because fixed internet adoption still has considerable room to grow nationally.

ICASA notes that while 82.1% of South African households had some form of internet access in 2024, fixed home access remains much lower and varies substantially between provinces and income groups.

The next phase of Johannesburg’s fibre expansion is therefore unlikely to be driven only by faster gigabit products in affluent suburbs. Lower-cost access and commercially viable high-density deployments are becoming just as important.

Fibre speeds are increasing, but the national average remains modest

The speed a fibre network can deliver is very different from the speed the average household actually buys.

ICASA’s February 2026 data placed South Africa’s average fixed broadband download speed at 48.34 Mbps, up from 28.63 Mbps in 2022.

Average upload speed increased from 23.16 Mbps to 39.15 Mbps over the same period.

That does not mean Johannesburg fibre networks are limited to roughly 50 Mbps.

Networks serving Johannesburg offer packages well above that level, including several hundred megabits per second and gigabit options.

The national average is influenced by which packages households actually subscribe to, the mix of technologies included in fixed broadband measurements and real-world home network conditions.

For most users, there is also a difference between line speed and Wi-Fi speed. A 200 Mbps fibre connection will not necessarily deliver 200 Mbps to a phone sitting several rooms away from the router. If your fibre line is fast but your wireless connection is struggling, see our guide to fixing slow Wi-Fi at home.

Mobile can be faster on paper, but fibre solves a different problem

ICASA’s February 2026 figures put average mobile broadband download speed at 65.7 Mbps, compared with 48.34 Mbps for fixed broadband.

That can make mobile look faster at first glance.

But the two technologies are used differently.

Mobile network speeds can vary according to signal strength, network load and local tower conditions. Fibre provides a fixed physical connection to the premises and tends to be chosen for households where stability, consistent capacity and stronger upload performance matter.

That includes homes with several people streaming, gaming, uploading files and working online at the same time.

The choice is therefore not simply “which technology has the biggest Mbps number?”

For Johannesburg households, it is often a choice between the flexibility of wireless access and the consistency of a permanent fixed line. Learn more about the differences between fibre and LTE.

How fibre networks are performing in 2026

There is no authoritative public dataset showing Johannesburg-wide uptime or average repair time for every FNO.

One useful industry benchmark comes from the Internet Service Providers’ Association of South Africa, or ISPA.

Its February 2026 survey asked ISPs to rate the FNOs they work with across factors including network reliability, technical capability, support and business processes.

Among major networks relevant to Johannesburg:

ISPA

There is an important qualification here.

These are ISP perceptions of FNOs, not measured uptime statistics or consumer satisfaction scores. ISPA itself warns that the survey should not be interpreted as an objective measure of network quality.

That distinction is important in a market where “best fibre network” claims are often based on very different methodologies.

What does fibre cost in Johannesburg in 2026?

How much is fibre per month in Johannesburg? There is no single Johannesburg fibre price because the amount you pay depends on both the network available at your address and the ISP you choose.

There are also several things to compare beyond the headline monthly fee:

• Download and upload speed. A 100/50 Mbps line and a 100/100 Mbps line are not the same product.
• Standard price versus promotion price. Introductory discounts can make two packages look very different for the first few months.
• Installation and router costs. These may be included, subsidised or charged separately.
• Contract and cancellation terms. Month-to-month does not always mean that no installation recovery charge can apply after an early cancellation.
• Uncapped versus fair-use conditions. Read the actual package terms rather than relying only on the word “uncapped”.

Our uncapped vs unlimited internet guide explains what these package terms mean and why the fine print matters.

As one current market reference, Infini-fi’s August 2026 offering includes a 100/100 Mbps Vumatel package at R899 per month, a 200/200 Mbps package at R1,139, and a 1,000/250 Mbps package at R1,299, subject to coverage and terms. The packages shown are month-to-month and include a free-to-use router and installation. See the current Infini-fi fibre deals.

Price per Mbps calculated using advertised download speed.

Using the advertised download speed, the approximate monthly cost per Mbps falls from R8.99 on the 100 Mbps package to R1.30 on the 1 Gbps package. That is around an 86% reduction in cost per Mbps as the advertised speed increases.

A higher-speed line costs more in total, but each unit of speed can become considerably cheaper.

Johannesburg’s public fibre infrastructure is also being upgraded

Residential fibre networks are only one layer of Johannesburg’s connectivity infrastructure.

The City of Johannesburg also operates municipal telecommunications infrastructure through the Metropolitan Tech Company.

In August 2026, the City confirmed that its Core Network Rehabilitation Programme was strengthening Johannesburg’s digital backbone to improve municipal connectivity, resilience and future digital services. Read the City of Johannesburg update.

This infrastructure supports municipal operations and public digital services rather than functioning as another residential FNO.

The distinction matters because fibre running through Johannesburg can serve very different purposes: residential FTTH, enterprise connectivity, wholesale backhaul, municipal infrastructure and public Wi-Fi.

Fibre investment is continuing despite a tougher infrastructure environment

The national telecoms investment picture also shows an interesting split.

ICASA reported that overall telecommunications investment fell 2.3% year on year in 2025, but investment in fixed and wired networks increased by 11.9%.

That points towards continued investment in the type of infrastructure that underpins fibre expansion.

At the same time, operators face costs that have little to do with headline internet speeds.

ICASA reported sharp increases in infrastructure theft-related costs and continued spending on batteries and generators to keep telecommunications networks operating through power disruptions.

For Johannesburg, network resilience is therefore becoming part of the fibre conversation alongside coverage, speed and price.

Choosing an internet provider in Johannesburg

Choosing a fibre provider in Johannesburg starts with the network available at your address. Once you know which fibre network operators serve your property, compare the ISPs selling packages over those networks.

Look beyond download speed alone. Compare upload speeds, whether the package is uncapped or subject to a fair-use policy, installation and activation costs, router terms, contract length, cancellation conditions and customer support.

Infini-fi is a Johannesburg-based ISP offering fibre packages across supported network footprints. Because availability can differ from one street to the next, the best place to start is by checking fibre coverage at your address.

What is changing for Johannesburg fibre heading into 2027?

Three developments are likely to shape the next stage of the market.

1. The largest fibre groups are getting larger

Vodacom’s acquisition of a 30% interest in Maziv was implemented on 1 December 2025. Maziv houses assets including Vumatel and Dark Fibre Africa, while Vodacom also contributed fibre assets as part of the transaction.

That gives one infrastructure group an increasingly significant role across FTTH, business fibre and wholesale connectivity.

How that consolidation affects infrastructure investment, wholesale competition and ISP choice will be worth watching.

2. Fibre growth will increasingly depend on affordability

The easiest high-income suburbs have largely been addressed by the market.

Future growth increasingly depends on making fibre commercially viable for households that cannot or will not spend close to R1,000 a month on home internet.

That is why prepaid fibre, lower-cost network builds and township-focused products matter so much to Johannesburg’s next phase.

3. Coverage data needs to become more transparent

One of the biggest gaps in the Johannesburg fibre market is surprisingly basic: there is no single public dataset showing, address by address, which FNOs are live across the city and how that changes over time.

There is also no standard public Johannesburg dataset for outage frequency, repair times or retail ISP market share.

That means many apparently simple questions still cannot be answered responsibly with one number.

What the data tells us about Johannesburg fibre in 2026

Johannesburg’s fibre market has moved well beyond the early rollout years.

Nationally, FTTH and FTTB subscriptions have doubled since 2023 and now make up roughly 92% of fixed broadband subscriptions. Openserve continues to grow both its network and connection rate, while Maziv’s combined FTTH footprint now exceeds 2.8 million homes passed.

Within Johannesburg, the story is becoming more complex.

Established suburbs increasingly have multiple infrastructure and ISP options. Soweto and other high-density areas are seeing more affordable fixed connectivity models. Municipal fibre is being rehabilitated. Fixed network investment continues even while operators contend with power resilience, infrastructure theft and affordability pressures.

The result is a market where having fibre is no longer the whole story.

The bigger questions for Johannesburg in the next few years will be how many households can afford to connect, how much genuine network choice they have at their address and how consistently those networks perform once they are connected.

For now, one rule still matters more than any citywide coverage claim:

Check the exact address first.

Fibre coverage in Johannesburg is still decided street by street and property by property. Check fibre coverage at your address to see what is available at your home.

Methodology and sources

This report was compiled in August 2026 using the latest available information from ICASA’s State of the ICT Sector Report 2026, Telkom/Openserve financial disclosures, Vodacom and Maziv transaction disclosures, City of Johannesburg information, ISPA’s February 2026 FNO Perception Survey and current provider package information. Where Johannesburg-specific data was unavailable, national figures have been labelled as such rather than presented as Johannesburg statistics.