Fibre network operator

Link Africa

Open-access metro fibre — Link Africa is an open-access network famous for threading fibre through municipal sewer and stormwater pipes. Its technology, footprint and how it works.

Type
Open-access FNO
Since
c. 2013
Tech
Fibre via existing pipes
Focus
Metros + business

Link Africa earned its reputation with a genuinely clever trick: instead of digging up the road, it runs fibre through the pipes already under it.

The story behind Link Africa

Operating since around 2013, Link Africa holds the African rights to a technology that threads fibre-optic cable through existing municipal sewer and stormwater systems, far faster and less disruptive than trenching. It has since leaned toward fibre-to-business and fibre-to-tower, and in 2021 sold a slice of its home-fibre network to MetroFibre.

How Link Africa works

Link Africa is an open-access network: it owns and maintains the fibre in the ground, but it doesn't sell you the internet directly. Instead, several independent ISPs ride the same line, and you choose which one to buy from, and you can switch ISP later without a new installation. That's why our coverage check shows the network at your address, then lets you compare the ISP packages on it by real monthly price.

Where Link Africa reaches

Its footprint spans the major metros, Johannesburg, Tshwane, Ekurhuleni, Durban, Pietermaritzburg and Cape Town, including business districts and a number of townships, across fibre to homes, businesses and towers.

Speeds & signing up

Residential tiers are sold through ISPs at a range of speeds. As with any open-access network, you choose the ISP and can switch later, check your address to see what’s available.

Common questions

Why did my Link Africa home line become MetroFibre?

Link Africa sold part of its home-fibre network to MetroFibre in 2021, so some former Link Africa home connections are now served by MetroFibre.

Link Africa fibre coverage map — how to check your address

Link Africa publishes a broad coverage map, but a network-wide map only shows the suburbs where Link Africa has built — not whether the fibre has actually reached your home. Coverage is laid street by street, so two houses a few doors apart can be on different sides of the rollout. The only reliable check is at your exact address.

Instead of reading Link Africa’s map and then checking each ISP one by one, enter your address once on FibreScout: we confirm whether Link Africa is live at your home right now, and show every ISP package on the line by real monthly price.

Check Link Africa coverage at your address

See if Link Africa reaches your home

One search shows every network live at your address — then compare packages by real monthly price.

Check my address