Township fibre uptake can potentially climb from about 15% to 70% over a year, compared with 40% to 50% in suburbia.
This, even though households may spend as much as 20% of their income on connectivity, while their suburban counterparts are more financially-stretched.
Mandla Ngcobo, CEO and founder of Accelerit Technologies, says early adopters typically take township fibre networks to about 15% uptake, compared with 30% to 40% in suburban areas, where early adoption can reach 50%.
Once networks clear the 30% needed for commercial viability, Ngcobosays, adoption can potentially accelerate to 70% within a year as citizens see the benefits, although uptake varies with the economic activity in each community.
Bongani Soko, co-founder of Godlela, says in the Township Experience Report 2025 that, in the early stages of selling fibre connectivity in townships, much of the conversation involved explaining who internet service providers were and why households needed to be connected.
“Residents are now more likely to ask how that connection can pay for itself through income, careers, education and easier ways to solve community problems,” the report states.
The report notes: “Value becomes credible when it can be used in practice without forcing people to keep searching, travelling and improvising.”
Spend, spend, spend
Ngcobo says township households may spend as much as 20% of their income on connectivity, including mobile data. “It’s very difficult to then say to them that you want a fixed monthly commitment,” says Ngcobo, noting that some households rely on daily income or are paid at different intervals.
For many township households, mobile data and WiFi account for a significant monthly expense, with the Township Experience Report 2025 finding that 37% spend between R251 and R500 on connectivity a month, while a further 27.5% spend between R501 and R1 000.
While the report doesn’t detail costs of going online, it found that 66% of township respondents are online throughout the day. “For households and individuals who must make every gigabyte count, engaging with brands competes with messaging family, applying for work, completing schoolwork, banking and comparing the prices of household essentials,” it says.
This comes as the Competition Commission’s March 2026 research report for its Rural and Township Economy Project finds that “township and rural households continue to face severe economic constraints”. Survey results show 47% of respondents in large townships, 39% in metro townships and 53% in rural towns earn less than R3 500 a month.
JOBJACK’s 2026 Job Seeker Report: The Cost of Trying, found that the average, estimated spend each month on data, transport and printing combined came to R490 just to look for a job. The report combines JOBJACK platform data from 867 706 registrations from July 2025 to July 2026, with a survey of 5 087 platform users conducted in September and October 2026.
Cents and sensibility
Against these household costs, township customers pay less for fibre than their suburban counterparts, but this also means lower average revenue per user (ARPU), adds Ngcobo.
“The 30% uptake sounds good and well, but when you look at the ARPU, it’s a lot lower than the ARPU in the suburbs,” says Ngcobo. “The bigger operators, they’re happy to get to that 40, 50%, because then the ARPU is a lot higher than it would be in the township.”
To achieve 70% penetration, companies need to “come up with extremely innovative pricing models,” which may push ARPU down to about R150, Ngcobo says. Suburban networks can generate blended ARPU of about R700, compared with approximately R350 in townships.
Ngcobo puts suburban households’ connectivity spend at about 5% of their income, but notes that middle-class households face additional costs, such as water and backup power, leaving them financially stretched.
The DebtBusters first quarter debt index – based on feedback from those in debt review – states that those who take home over R50 000 a month would spend 101% of their income on what they owe if they fully service their debt each month, with their debt-to-income ratio being the highest of all income bands.
Fibre providers therefore need flexible payment options, including daily, weekly, biweekly and monthly vouchers, with the latter not requiring an ongoing commitment, says Ngcobo.
Accelerit Technologies has also introduced loyalty and rewards to encourage customer retention, Ngcobo adds. “You still want to create stickiness, but you can’t enforce it with the contract anymore. You’ve got to add more value to your portfolio.”
Going the distance
Extending connectivity to the most remote communities remains commercially challenging, says Ngcobo. He points out that deployments are unlikely to be economical without substantial support, and that operators need to consider areas with existing mining, farming or industrial activity when developing viable models.
Ngcobo estimates that commercially viable approaches may reach about 30% to 40% of the population, while a further 50% live in remote areas where earning potential is extremely limited.
Reaching these communities will require flexible, subsidised pricing, fibre and wireless infrastructure, and impact-aligned funding. Ngcobo says the Development Bank of Southern Africa and Industrial Development Corporation should be among the institutions involved, with a viable model potentially being replicated in other African markets with similarly low fibre penetration.
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