Uncapped fibre internet for R5/day? It’s a reality in parts of South Africa as broadband providers push affordable fibre into communities long underserved by traditional fixed-line networks.
What was once the preserve of affluent suburbs is now creeping into dense urban and township footprints, powered by new pricing models, new deployment strategies and a business imperative to chase volume rather than high margins.
The arrival of genuinely low-cost fibre marks a turning point in the country’s connectivity landscape. For years, mobile broadband – first 3G, then LTE – was the only scalable option for many lower-income households. Fixed-wireless access filled part of the gap, but capped data and fluctuating speeds limited its usefulness.
Fibre, long touted as the future of high-capacity broadband, was slow to reach many communities outside of established, higher-income areas because traditional deployments are capital intensive.
That is beginning to change. Companies such as Fibertime and Wire-Wire Networks have built their entire propositions around delivering uncapped fibre at prices that are competitive with – or even lower than – typical mobile bundles.
Fibertime’s s core product, marketed as 100Mbit/s uncapped fibre for R5/day, is sold on a pay-as-you-go basis, with daily vouchers replacing the traditional monthly debit order contract. It’s a model explicitly designed for households where irregular incomes make conventional broadband contracts unattractive or untenable.
Broader shift
Unlike conventional fibre roll-outs that rely on digging trenches and connecting individual premises slowly and expensively, this new wave of broadband providers focuses on quicker, lower-cost deployment methods such as aerial fibre, simpler installation and standardised customer equipment.
These providers are part of a broader shift in the fibre network operator market. Larger infrastructure players like Vumatel and Openserve have historically driven South Africa’s fibre expansion into many urban and suburban communities through open-access networks. In recent years, they’ve also introduced entry-level products aimed at lower-income areas, signalling that even big incumbents see value in this segment. Vumatel has said its big focus in the next few years will be on wiring up townships and other underserved parts of the country.
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What sets the current investment wave apart is a recognition that fibre must be affordable on terms that resonate with consumers whose income patterns differ markedly from traditional salaried households. Prepaid or short-term plans allow first-time broadband users to experiment with services without long-term commitment. It’s a model that allowed the cellular industry to flourish by tapping into the mass market.
The impact on usage behaviour is already noticeable. Always-on, uncapped connectivity for less than the price of a cup of coffee a day changes how people interact with the internet. Households that once rationed data now stream video, participate in online education, access cloud services, and engage with digital platforms for work and commerce.
The economics aren’t straightforward. Lower price points compress margins, and success hinges on scale, operational efficiency and low churn. Providers entering these segments have had to rethink customer support, payment collection and installation logistics to keep overheads manageable. Network maintenance and security – particularly against theft and vandalism – remain ongoing challenges, but cheaper deployment approaches like aerial fibre help reduce some of these costs.
And affordable fibre paves the way for digital inclusion, allowing small businesses to participate in e-commerce, students to access online learning outside school and families to stay connected with essential services.
Of course, fibre offerings vary. While companies like Fibertime have made headlines for their R5/day pricing, other providers offer uncapped fibre packages that appeal to emerging middle-income households as well as entry-level consumers. Meanwhile, established players like Maziv, through Dark Fibre Africa, continue to play a role in expanding the underlying infrastructure that makes these services possible.
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Whether this low-cost fibre boom can be sustained and scaled nationally – especially into rural regions where deployment costs are higher – remains to be seen. But it’s happening. And it’s because of entrepreneurs willing to take a big bet that demand for quality uncapped internet access in lower-LSM households in South Africa is just as high – if not higher – than it is in the leafy suburbs. They’re arguably already doing more to bridge the digital divide in South Africa than government policy has achieved in the past three decades.  – © 2026 NewsCentral Media
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