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Frogfoot Networks, the open-access infrastructure unit of technology and telecom operator Vox, has launched its prepaid fibre service as competition for fixed connectivity in township areas heats up.Dubbed Frogfoot Leap, the service provides homes with access “to reliable, uncapped high-speed internet without long-term contracts”, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. The initial launch is in Lotus Gardens, Tshwane, with 4,000 homes having access to the service, which uses aerial fibre, as opposed to the underground cables, at internet speeds of up to 500Mbps.Customers who sign up will be able to access the service through various internet service providers (ISPs). South Africa is a pioneer in prepaid mobile services, a model that has taken off since the mid-1990s. An estimated 80% of all SIM cards in the country are prepaid. In recent years, that same model has been applied to fixed internet services. For instance, Alan Knott-Craig Jnr’s Fibertime has experienced huge growth since 2022 with its low-cost pay-as-you-go uncapped internet model.Fibertime has about 500,000 homes connected to its service. Vumatel, the country’s biggest fibre-to-the-home provider, has been active in this market since July 2019 and piloted the service in Mitchells Plain, Cape Town.In addition, former SAA boss Vuyani Jarana recently secured more than R400m in funding for Ilitha Telecommunications, which offers flexible, pay-as-you-go broadband internet plans for as low as R3 a day or R90 a month using fibre to the home and on-the-go Wi-Fi from hotspots rolled out in the area. “Frogfoot developed Frogfoot Leap to make fibre more accessible by removing barriers such as contracts and complicated sign-up processes and to give households greater control over how they purchase internet access,” said Frogfoot Networks CEO Shane Chorley. The company has not given an indication of pricing. “Additional launch areas will be announced as the rollout expands nationally,” Chorley said. The company said customers will be provided with a Wi-Fi-enabled optical network terminal (ONT) — a small box that connects a router to the fibre network — meaning they do not need to buy a separate router. Up to 10 devices can connect to the Wi-Fi service at the same time via the ONT.“More South Africans deserve access to reliable fibre connectivity, which we see not as a luxury but something that is a fundamental opportunity creator. Frogfoot Leap makes home internet simpler and more affordable,” said Chorley.Business Day
