Fibre-to-the-home is the preferred Internet connection for households in South Africa, as it offers higher speeds at a much lower price per Mbps than DSL.<\/p>\n
The high cost associated with rolling out a fibre network means that network operators cherry-pick the suburbs where they deploy networks.<\/p>\n
A high take-up rate is needed for a fibre provider to invest in a\u00a0network in a neighbourhood to minimize the risk of big losses.<\/p>\n
It is therefore unlikely that a network provider will invest in a neighbourhood where another provider is already active.<\/p>\n
This means that residents in a certain area are usually stuck with a single fibre provider, and this will influence the price they pay for FTTH services.<\/p>\n
Different FTTH providers charge different wholesale rates to ISPs, who in turn pass these costs onto consumers.<\/p>\n
This means an Afrihost subscriber in one area, for example, will pay more for the same FTTH service than their counterpart in another area.<\/p>\n
The table below shows the different prices of FTTH services from the same ISP, based on which fibre operator is used.<\/p>\n