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Fibre network operator

Openserve

National reach — Openserve is Telkom's wholesale fibre network and South Africa's widest national footprint. Here's its story, how open-access works, and where it reaches.

Type
Open-access FNO
Parent
Telkom
HQ
Centurion
Footprint
National · ~1.5M homes passed

Openserve is the wholesale fibre arm of Telkom, and it quietly carries more of South Africa's internet than any other network.

The story behind Openserve

Openserve was carved out of Telkom in 2015 as a separate wholesale division, in the same spirit as BT splitting off Openreach in the UK: keep the national network neutral, and let any service provider sell over it. It became a wholly owned legal subsidiary in 2022. Sitting on Telkom’s decades-old national backbone, it has been steadily converting legacy copper exchanges into fibre.

By early 2026 Openserve reported passing roughly 1.5 million homes with fibre, a milestone that underlines its reach into towns where it is often the only fibre available.

How Openserve works

Openserve 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 Openserve reaches

Openserve has the broadest national footprint of any South African FNO, spanning all the major metros and reaching deep into smaller towns across every province, frequently the first (or only) fibre option outside the big cities.

Speeds & signing up

ISPs sell a range of uncapped tiers over Openserve, typically from entry speeds up to around 1 Gbps depending on the area. To get connected you pick an ISP (Afrihost, Webafrica, Cool Ideas, RSAWEB and many others), and Openserve handles the physical install. Check your address to see if Openserve is live and compare the packages.

Common questions

Do I pay Openserve or an ISP?

You pay an ISP. Openserve only owns the line and does the installation, your monthly bill and support come from the ISP you choose.

Can I switch ISP without a new install?

Yes. The line stays; you just move your service to a different ISP on the same Openserve connection.

Openserve fibre coverage map — how to check your address

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

Check Openserve coverage at your address

ISPs you can use on Openserve

AfrihostWebafricaVoxRSAWEBCool IdeasMwebSupersonicCybersmartAxxess
Check Openserve at your address All networks

See if Openserve reaches your home

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

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