South Africa’s internet service providers (ISPs) have a slightly better perception of the country’s fibre network operators (FNOs) compared to six months ago, according to the results of ISPA’s latest FNO perception survey.

ISPA is South Africa’s official internet industry representative body (IRB), which surveys its members on a six-monthly basis to gauge their opinions of South Africa’s FNOs who are so critical to bridging the digital divide. The organisation has released the results of the most recent survey, which included analysis of how the major FNOs have improved (or worsened!) over the past 18 months.

“Overall, there has been a slight improvement in ISP perceptions of FNOs over the past six months. While the trend is encouraging, it’s clear this upwards trajectory needs speeding up,” said Sasha Booth-Beharilal, ISPA chair.

The August 2024 FNO perception survey saw 44 ISPs actively contributing to 321 ratings of 38 FNOs with eight operators rated most often: Octotel, Liquid Intelligent Networks, Openserve, Metrofibre, Link Africa, Frogfoot, Dark Fibre Africa and Vumatel.

Octotel has displaced Metrofibre as the highest-rated network in the top eight and Liquid has shown significant improvement, jumping from fifth to second place. Openserve has recovered from a slump six months ago to move into third place. Metrofibre and Link Africa were in first and second place, respectively, in February 2024 and are now in fourth and fifth positions with slight dips in their average ratings. Frogfoot remains steady as the sixth FNO on the list while Dark Fibre Africa and Vumatel have switched places at the bottom of the top eight.

In terms of how ISPA’s ISP members perceive the various FNOs’ strengths and weaknesses, the best perceived characteristics are reliability, technical competence, staff and support. Software systems are the least favourably viewed overall, followed by business processes.

ISPA’s report highlights the perceived strengths and weaknesses of each of the major FNOs. Octotel reliability and software systems are consistently highly rated by ISPs as are Openserve’s reliability and network value. Metrofibre’s staff and business processes are viewed as strengths. Perception of Liquid’s technical capability has improved from an already solid rating. Link Africa’s commitment to an open access model continues to make it an attractive option for ISPs. Dark Fibre Africa also scores consistently highly on open access but is let down by its support.

The latest survey also highlights several smaller FNOs who, while they do not yet enjoy the same uptake as the largest FNOs, were scored highly by ISPs. Notably, Comtel and FibreGeeks received higher ratings than all the top eight FNOs.

For FNOs wishing to improve their scores in future, ISPA’s advice is to streamline the support provided to ISPs. “There must be processes and adequate staff capacity to resolve the common issues that ultimately impact end-user customer service,” Booth-Beharilal said.

The full table of results for all the FNOs surveyed is published on the ISPA website: https://ispa.org.za/fnos-isps/fno-perception-surveys/