Herotel –  The Big Friendly (Fibre) Giant 

In February this year My Broadband ran an article referring to Herotel as the “secret fibre giant” (click here for full article https://mybroadband.co.za/news/fibre/523610-south-africas-secret-fibre-giant.html).

This after our fibre network had grown to pass more than 560 000 homes and businesses across South Africa, putting Herotel only behind Openserve and Vumatel in terms of network coverage.  

There are many interesting stats and numbers behind this growth: 

Over 14 000kms of fibre. 

Over 12 000 manholes.

Fibre networks in over 250 towns, cities and suburbs across South Africa 

Even more impressive is that as a business, Herotel has only been in operation for 10 years, and we only built our first fibre network a few years ago. So how did this small start-up grow into one of the giants of the telecommunications sector in such a remarkably short period of time? 

The operational challenges of building a network on this scale are mind-boggling:

A workforce of over 800 staff, a fleet of 300 vehicles and dedicated project teams all around the country. Getting the necessary municipal permissions to dig, bury, plant and then restore private and public property to its original condition. Sourcing and importing materials during and after the COVID pandemic when global shortages were commonplace. 

But the real driver behind this success story is Herotel’s unwavering commitment to and focus on our customers. It’s your right to have access to affordable high-speed broadband and to make that happen we’ve done things a bit differently to the rest of the market: 

  • We focus on secondary cities and towns, often where are other network operators are not interested. 
  • Wherever we can, we build our networks in the air (on poles). It’s quicker, cheaper and less disruptive to other municipal services that are buried underground. 
  • We sell directly to the end-customer. It keeps costs down and, most importantly, we service you directly. No finger-pointing if things go wrong. 
  • We operate in your local communities. We have over 70 offices around the country where our support teams can make sure that we deliver on our promise 365 days a year. 

Our first 10 years have exceeded even our own expectations. And we’re still just as excited about what lies in store for the next 10 years.