Smaller fibre network operators (FNOs) are performing well against established operators, the latest Perception Survey by official Internet industry representative body the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) has revealed.

The survey, which gauges the perception of Internet service providers (ISPs) of FNO performance across a range of metrics, found that several smaller FNOs achieved average scores that placed them above most of South Africa’s major eight networks.

These include Lightspeed (Cybersmart), which scored 7.1, Open Fibre and Lightstruck, with each scoring 7.0, Evotel and Seacom FibreCo, each scoring 6.9, and WECOM with a score of 6.6.

“If we look at the smaller FNOs scores, all of them would slot in between the top two survey positions – if they had received numerically more ratings by ISPs,” ISPA pointed out, noting that large operators Octotel, Openserve, MetroFibre, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, Frogfoot, Link Africa, Dark Fibre Africa and Vumatel are the eight fibre FNOs that recorded the most responses in ISPA’s latest Perception Survey.

The survey found that large operator Octotel, retaining its position at the top of the chart, scored a 7.5, while the next large operator, Openserve, maintained its second place position, scoring 6.5.

MetroFibre also kept its third place ranking, scoring 6.4, while Liquid remained steady in fourth place with a score of 6.1.

Frogfoot, Dark Fibre Africa and Vumatel all received their highest ratings in three years, scoring a respective 6.1, 5.8 and 5.6.

“While Frogfoot, Dark Fibre Africa and Vumatel all received their best survey results in three years, they have room for further improvement that would make dealing with them even better.”

Link Africa, albeit in sixth position, received its lowest score ever at 5.8, below the overall average score of 6.2.

ISPA noted that the two networks with the most ISPs rating them, namely Openserve and MetroFibre, are also two networks that score well on open-access policies.

“The implication is that open access policies encourage ISPs to use the network, as expected.”

When it comes to what ISPs think the strengths and weaknesses of South African FNOs are overall, the top four metrics remain the same as they were last year: reliability, staff friendliness, technical proficiency and adherence to open-access.

“Potential investors and ISPs looking to broaden their service offering, geographic reach or exposure to a more innovative corporate culture should take note of these up-and-coming fibre superstars,” said ISPA spokesperson Ant Brooks, adding that it is “something to watch” and bodes well for future service levels when smaller firms start outperforming their bigger industry competition.

“The country’s ISPs are the industry entities that actually interface with the end Internet consumer so how FNOs are doing when it comes to the above directly influences service levels. Generally, each survey brings a slight improvement in ISP perceptions of FNOs. Notably, none of the overall scores have dropped since 2025, suggesting moves in the right direction.”

Going forward, ISPA advised FNOs to streamline the support they provide to ISPs.

“In practical terms, there must be clear processes and adequate staff to resolve common issues that impact the end-user.”

“An overarching theme of the regular ISPA Perception Surveys has emerged. ISPs are rating more FNOs over time and this is very positive. It suggests that ISPs are steadily using more fibre operators to deliver more services and the implications for free competition are clear,” Brooks concluded.