Internet in South Africa - Statistics

Statistics

According to 2007 and 2008 estimates, about 4% of the continental population in Africa have Internet access. Overall online activity is disproportionately distributed in South Africa, with 2/3 of overall online activity in Africa being generated in South Africa which accounts for 5% of the continent's population. Most of the remaining 1/3 of online activity is distributed between Morocco and Egypt. The number of internet subscribers by percentage, however, is greater in smaller countries such as the Seychelles, where as much as 37% of the population has internet access, while only 11% of the South African population have internet access.

While the internet user base increased to an estimated 6 million in 2008, the growth curve of paying internet accounts is recognized to be flattening. The total number of wireless broadband subscribers overtook that of fixed line broadband subscribers in South Africa during 2007. The total number of broadband subscribers is estimated at 750,000 by 2008, of which Telkom reported 491,774 ADSL subscribers, with the remainder using wireless broadband networks. Wireless Business Solutions (WBS) launched the iBurst system in South Africa in late 2004, and had a subscriber base of 45,000 by July 2007, up from 2,500 subscribers by February 2005. Sentech had about 4,000 MyWireless subscribers in 2007, up from 2,500 in 2006.

Dial-up subscribers are migrating to broadband, and then escalating to higher-bandwidth packages as they become available.

South Africa's total international bandwidth reached the 10 Gbit/s mark during 2008, and its continued increase is being driven primarily by the uptake of broadband and lowering of tariffs.

South Africa's internet user base is projected to reach 9 million users by 2014.