If your fibre felt a little pricier in 2026, you weren’t imagining it — a couple of the big networks pushed through their annual increases. But it’s not the whole picture: other operators deliberately held their prices, and thanks to a genuine price war among ISPs, you may be able to pay <em>less</em> than before. Here’s what actually happened and how to come out ahead.
What changed in 2026
Two of the biggest fibre networks — Openserve and Vumatel — put through wholesale price increases from 1 April 2026, their usual annual cycle. Because these are the networks under a huge share of South African homes, that’s the change most people will have heard about. Networks raise wholesale prices to cover rising costs (power, maintenance, expansion), and it happens most years.
Who held their prices
Here’s the part that didn’t make headlines: not everyone hiked. Evotel and Net Nine Nine committed to no wholesale fibre price increases in 2026, with Evotel even expanding its cheaper entry-level options. So depending on which network is live at your address, 2026 may have brought no increase at all — a good reminder that "fibre went up" is a generalisation, not a rule.
Why your bill may not have moved anyway
Even where the network raised its wholesale price, your ISP doesn’t automatically pass it on. Remember how South African fibre works: the network owns the line, but the ISP you pay (Afrihost, Webafrica, MWEB, Cool Ideas, Vox and the rest) sets the retail price. Several ISPs absorbed part or all of the increase to stay competitive — because right now they’re fighting hard for customers.
There’s a real price war on. Entry-level fibre deals have been spotted as low as around R299 a month, the gap between the cheapest and priciest ISP on the same line often runs R100–R300, and many ISPs quietly offer 15–30% retention discounts if you call to cancel. The increases are real — but so is the competition pushing the other way.
How to actually pay less in 2026
Four moves do most of the work — and none of them mean sacrificing speed:
1. Shop the ISP, not just the network. This is the biggest lever. The same line at the same speed can cost R100–R300 more from one ISP than the next — pure margin. Our fibre deals page ranks every ISP on your line by real monthly price so the cheapest is obvious.
2. Make the retention call. If your price crept up, phone your ISP and say you’re thinking of leaving. Retention teams routinely offer a discount or a free speed bump to keep you — it costs a five-minute call.
3. Don’t overbuy speed. Most homes run comfortably on 25–50 Mbps. If your bill rose, dropping from a 200 Mbps line you never max out to a 100 Mbps one can more than cancel the increase.
4. Check whether a cheaper network reaches you. If a no-increase network (or just a cheaper one) is now live at your address, switching lines entirely can reset your bill. It only takes an address check to find out.
The verdict
Yes, some fibre prices went up in 2026 — but "fibre is more expensive now" is too blunt. Other networks held, ISPs are undercutting each other hard, and a bit of shopping around can leave you paying less than you did before the increases. The one thing that never helps is doing nothing. For the cheapest lines going, see cheapest fibre in South Africa.
Turn the increase into a saving. Check your address, then sort every ISP on your line by real monthly price on the fibre deals page — the cheapest option is usually one you were never quoted.