ContactCheck my address
Fibre network operator

Octotel

Western Cape specialist — Octotel is the Western Cape’s leading open-access fibre network, now offering multi-gig speeds. Its history, ownership, footprint and how to sign up.

Type
Open-access FNO
Founded
c. 2015
HQ
Cape Town
Top speed
Up to 5 Gbps in places

If you live in Cape Town, there’s a good chance Octotel is the fibre under your street, it dominates the Mother City’s open-access market.

The story behind Octotel

Octotel started as a Cape Town fibre company in the mid-2010s, led by founder Rob Gilmour. Investment from Actis (2020) helped it roughly double its footprint, and in 2024 a consortium led by African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), with STOA and Thebe, took over ownership.

How Octotel works

Octotel 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 Octotel reaches

Octotel is heavily focused on Cape Town, the Atlantic Seaboard, City Bowl, Southern and Northern Suburbs, and has been extending along the coast and Garden Route to towns like George, Mossel Bay, Plettenberg Bay and Hermanus. It reports passing around 350,000 homes.

Speeds & signing up

Octotel offers uncapped symmetrical fibre up to 1 Gbps as standard, with premium multi-gig tiers (2.5 Gbps and 5 Gbps) available in select areas. Choose from 50-plus ISPs, check your address to compare.

Common questions

Which ISP is best on Octotel?

It depends on price and service, they all use the same Octotel line. Compare the live packages at your address and pick on monthly cost and reputation.

How long does installation take?

Once ordered, an on-site install usually takes a couple of hours and is commonly scheduled within one to two weeks.

Octotel fibre coverage map — how to check your address

Octotel publishes a broad coverage map, but a network-wide map only shows the suburbs where Octotel 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 Octotel’s map and then checking each ISP one by one, enter your address once on FibreScout: we confirm whether Octotel is live at your home right now, and show every ISP package on the line by real monthly price.

Check Octotel coverage at your address

ISPs you can use on Octotel

AfrihostWebafricaVoxRSAWEBCool IdeasMwebSupersonicCybersmartAxxess
Check Octotel at your address All networks

See if Octotel reaches your home

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

Check my address