Racing from provider to connector, Herotel broadens Nedbank Gravel Burn horizons

Herotel, South Africa’s third-largest fibre network operator and largest fixed internet service provider, has expanded its partnership with Nedbank Gravel Burn, stepping up from internet service provider (ISP) sponsor in 2025 to headline sponsor in 2026, with greater responsibility for connecting the race’s remote overnight camps and letting riders share their adventures with the world.

The seven-day, 750 km gravel stage race takes riders across the Great Karoo from Graaff-Reinet to Shamwari, through areas where reliable internet access can be as scarce as a smooth stretch of road. For Herotel, which has built its business connecting smaller towns and rural communities across South Africa, the challenge is familiar territory (and terrain!).

“Herotel has spent years building networks in places where connectivity is not always easy to deliver,” says Herotel Chief Commercial Officer Estiaan Ferreira. “The Nedbank Gravel Burn takes us into exactly those kinds of environments, except now you suddenly have an event arriving with hundreds of people who need the network to work from day one.”

At the first Nedbank Gravel Burn last year, Herotel supplied the internet connectivity, while technology partners including NTT DATA and Fortinet built and managed the internal event network. This year, Herotel will take a more direct role in deploying infrastructure and building and managing the network across the Burn Camps. It will also be instrumental in showcasing the event to a worldwide audience.

Each overnight camp becomes a temporary village, bringing riders, race officials, medical teams, media and support staff together at remote locations. Different crew and participants arrive at each Burn Camp with different demands, from recording results and coordinating medical support to filing race reports and keeping in touch with family at home.

Herotel’s expanded involvement will support those needs throughout race week, with connectivity prioritised for safety, medical coordination and timing, alongside access for riders and staff across the camps. The task is to keep essential race services connected while giving riders and staff access at venues with limited infrastructure throughout the event’s duration.

“Covering a whole camp with Wi-Fi is one thing,” says Ferreira. “Making sure it holds up for the people who depend on it – like the medical team, race control, timing, and others – that’s the real job. You have to know who relies on the network and design it so the critical things never drop, especially once you’re deep in a remote area.”

From rural towns to Burn Camps

Herotel serves approximately 400,000 active customers across more than 550 towns, cities and suburbs, using fibre and fixed wireless networks. Much of its footprint lies beyond the country’s major metropolitan centres, where distance, terrain and existing infrastructure determine how a connection can be delivered.

Those same considerations apply to Nedbank Gravel Burn. The network must be planned around each venue, with teams working on the ground to provide the connections required by a race moving between temporary homes over seven days.

“If you are operating in a major city, there is generally a lot of infrastructure around you,” says Ferreira. “Once you move into smaller towns, farms, and remote areas, you sometimes have to solve the problem differently. That is the environment our teams work in every day.”

That thinking is also shaping where Herotel goes next. In 2027, the company will launch evry, powered by Amazon Leo, a satellite internet service built to reach the homes and small businesses that sit beyond even fibre and fixed wireless, in exactly the kind of remote terrain Nedbank Gravel Burn passes through. For a race that crosses some of the Karoo’s most isolated stretches, it is a fitting glimpse of how Herotel intends to close the connectivity gap, wherever people happen to be.

Herotel will also have representatives on the other side of the handlebars. Following participation by members of its executive team in 2025, five representatives will ride this year, including two riders from the Stellenbosch-based Fairtree Cannondale team, managed by Chris Norton. Both riders are Herotel customers.

The partnership could also leave benefits beyond race week. Some connectivity improvements made for the event may continue serving farms, landowners, local businesses and neighbouring communities once the riders have moved on.

For Herotel, whose mission is “everyone connected”, the expanded sponsorship brings its everyday work into the demanding setting of an international stage race. For riders and organisers, it means reliable communication remains a priority, even when the route takes them far from the nearest town.