⚠️ This document gets updated as we receive information from our Fibre Network partners. Last year’s dates should give you an indication of the next slowdown period.

Each year during the South African Summer Holiday period, most of the local telecoms industry takes a break between 15 December and 15 January – and you can’t really get anything new installed. Support can be a bit slower too.

The good news is that, in our experience, the fibre networks are much more stable during this time because nobody is making network changes.

There is no real change in what Atomic can support – just be aware that things can be slower if we open tickets with the fibre networks.

🚧 TL;DR #

• Please allow a little more time than usual for support. We will be here to help as much as we can, but please understand there are limitations during the freeze period imposed by 3rd parties not being available
• No new trenching or new-fibre builds will happen from around the 15th of December to around the 15th of January
• Review info about our Support Channels, Contact Hours, and troubleshooting steps if you have a fibre problem
• Telecoms companies may have over 50% of their employees on leave during the summer holiday period
• Emergency work is generally carried out during the slowdown period

Below is an overview of the various freeze periods for Atomic and each of the Fibre Network Operators we work with.

🚀 Atomic Freeze Period #

• Support: Normal support hours – please review our Support Page and Contact Page for contact methods and availability
• Network freeze: No planned maintenance/upgrades from 15 December → 15 January
• Ops/Onboarding: We’ll do our best to assist with queries, orders, activations and WiFi router deliveries however, things will take a little longer than usual, given 3rd parties not operating.
• Courier: Our courier service aims to provide next business day service, and doesn’t operate on public holidays.
• Onsite Support Services: Limited appointments between 15 December and 15 January.

🐙 Octotel Freeze Period (2025/2026) #

• Support: Normal support hours
• New Installations: Reduced capacity for scheduling and installations. No new installations from 24 December → 26 December, and 1 January 2026

🐸 Frogfoot Freeze Period (2025/2026) #

• Support: Normal support hours but with reduced capacity from 12 December 2025 → 05 January 2026
• Network freeze: No planned maintenance/upgrades from 12 December 2025 → 05 January 2026
• New Installations: Limited activity expected from 12 December 2025 → 12 January 2026

🐰 Vumatel Freeze Period (2025/2026) #

• Support: Normal support hours but with skeleton staff throughout the holiday season.
• Maintenance: Maintenance teams are not able to help on public holidays (Christmas Day, Day of Goodwill, and New Year’s Day).
• Trenching freeze: 12 December 2025 → 12 January 2026
• Network freeze: 12 December 2025 → 12 January 2026
• System changes freeze: 5 December 2025 → 12 January 2026
• Install freeze: Installations continue until 24 December 2025 (with possible ad hoc installs until 31 December 2025, excluding public holidays); regular scheduling resumes 2 January 2026
• Reconnects and Migrations freeze: 30 December 2025 to 2 January 2026

🦎 Openserve Freeze Period (2025/2026) #

• Network freeze: No planned maintenance/upgrades from 22 December 2025 to and including 6 January 2025

🚦 Orders going live on 1 January #

If you have a pending migration order that is due to go live on 1 January, the order should go live as normal. Look out for an email and sms to know when the migration is processed by the fibre network.

👷‍♂️ Builders Holiday #

The builder’s holiday is roughly 8 December to 15 January each year. During this time, no trenching or civils work can occur, and there is normally a backlog when they start working again.