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FNOs & ISPs

Fibre Network Operators in Gated Communities

Learn more about Fibre Network Operators in Gated Communities

FNOs & ISPs

Fibre Network Operators (FNOs) and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) both play vital roles in delivering fibre broadband to South Africans. Understanding their distinct functions and how they collaborate is key to a healthy internet ecosystem. As South Africa’s Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA), we offer several resources to enhance clarity and promote best practices in this sector:

The ISPA Fibre Primer:

For consumers, the ISPA Fibre Primer explains essential concepts, clarifies the roles of FNOs and ISPs, and provides helpful tips for making informed connectivity choices.

Best Practice Recommendations:

ISPA publishes the “Fibre Network Operator and Internet Service Provider Best Practice Recommendations”. This document, developed through extensive consultation with ISPA members and FNOs, outlines key guidelines for service provision in South Africa’s fibre sector and it is likely that it will be updated in future based on additional industry feedback.

FNO Perception Surveys:

Since August 2023, ISPA has conducted bi-annual surveys with its members to gauge their opinions of South Africa’s Fibre Network Operators (FNOs). Here are the scores from the FNO perception surveys.

FNO Comparison

This information has been compiled by the ISPA Operator's Working Group

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Member Login

Checkpoint		Dark Fibre Africa	Frogfoot	Link Africa	Liquid Intelligent Technologies	MetroFibre	Octotel	Openserve	Vumatel
Open access	Same pricing for all ISPs	Yes ¹	Yes ¹	Yes	No ¹	Yes ¹	Yes ¹	Yes ¹	Yes ¹
	No volume-based discounts	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Standard agreement for all ISPs	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	ISPs do not have to sign an NDA	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
	Does not sell services to end-users	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Non-discrimination	Equal network access for all ISPs	Yes	No ²	Yes	Yes ²	No ²	Yes	Yes ²	Yes ²
	Equal access to maps and tools	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
	No marketing favouritism	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	No rollout favouritism	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Promotions available to all ISPs	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Shareholding	Separate wholesale/retail operations	Yes ²	Yes ³	Yes ¹	No ³	Yes ³	Yes ²	Yes ³	Yes ³
	Restrictions on information sharing	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Has conflicts of interest	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Barriers to entry	No or low minimum commitments	Yes	Yes ⁴	Yes	Yes ⁴	Yes	No ³	Yes	No ⁴
	No fixed number of ISPs	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Ramp-up period provided to new ISPs	Not addressed	Not addressed	Not addressed	Not addressed	Yes	Yes	Not addressed	Yes
SLAs and CPE	Has clear SLAs for all services	Yes ³	No ⁵	Yes ²	Yes ⁵	Yes ⁴	Yes ⁴	Yes ⁴	Yes ⁵
SLAs and CPE	Has clear policy on broken CPE costs	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Customer information	Keeps customer record only as needed	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes ⁵	No
Customer information	End-user communication left to ISPs	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not addressed
Escalations	Clear fault logging and escalations	Yes ⁴	Yes	Yes ³	Yes	Yes ⁵	Yes	Yes ⁶	Yes ⁶
	Escalations are handled efficiently	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
	Clear point of contact for ISPs	Yes	Not addressed	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Network information	Comprehensive network notifications	Yes ⁵	Yes ⁶	Yes ⁴	No ⁶	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes ⁷
	Prior notification to ISPs if possible	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	API available check line status	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Installations	Clear installation times for on/off-net	No ⁶	No ⁷	No ⁵	No ⁷	Yes ⁶	Yes	No ⁷	Yes ⁸
	ISPs can track installation status	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Reasonable fees for cancelled install	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Different fees for activation/install	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Upgrades	Doesn’t claim that upgrades are “free”	Yes	Yes ⁸	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	Does not do forced upgrades	Yes	Not addressed	Yes	Yes	Yes	Not addressed	Not addressed	Not addressed
	Provides 45+ days notice of upgrades	Not addressed	Yes	Not addressed	Not addressed	Not addressed	Yes	Yes	Yes
	No fee to revert a forced upgrade	Not addressed	Yes	Not addressed	Not addressed	Not addressed	Yes	Yes	Yes
Cancellations	Allows for contract substitution	Yes ⁷	Yes ⁹	No ⁶	Yes ⁸	No	Yes ⁵	Yes ⁸	No ⁹
	Provides ISPs line suspension option	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	No
	Flexible cancellation notice periods	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Migrations	Allows more than one ISP per line	No ⁸	Yes ¹⁰	No ⁷	No ⁹	No	No ⁶	Yes	No ¹⁰
	Minimal notice periods for migrations	Not addressed	Yes	Yes	Not addressed	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
	No installation charge for a migration	Not addressed	Yes	Yes	Not addressed	Yes	No	Yes	No
	Warns ISPs of pending line migrations	Not addressed	Yes	Not addressed	Not addressed	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Has a good dispute resolution process	Not addressed	No	Yes	Not addressed	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
	Does not support line migrations	No	Not addressed	Not addressed	No	Not addressed	Not addressed	Not addressed	Not addressed
Price increases	Gives 70+ days notice of increases	No	Yes	Yes ⁸	No	Yes	No ⁷	Yes ⁹	Yes ¹¹
Miscellaneous	Supports 1500 byte MTU end-to-end	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes ¹⁰	Yes
Miscellaneous	Current/future network maps available	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

This is the heading

This is the heading

FNOs & ISPs

Fibre Network Operators in Gated Communities

FNOs & ISPs

The ISPA Fibre Primer:

Best Practice Recommendations:

FNO Perception Surveys:

FNO Comparison

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