Telecommunication in South Africa
Compared to the European Union, South Africa has a slight downturn in the development of telecommunications. Under the country code +27, there were a total of 99.00 m connections in 2019. Among them were 96.97 m million mobile phones, which corresponds to an average of 1.7 per person. In the EU, this figure is 1.2 mobile phones per person.In the expansion of broadband Internet connections, South Africa is back. Around 56% of all residents have access to the Internet. Approximately 2% have their own fast Internet connection, which is at least faster than the previous ISDN (more than 2048 kbit/s).
With about 4.76 m webhosts, South Africa is below the world's average by population.
Back to overview: South Africa
Development of telephone and internet connections
With an average download speed of 46.32 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, South Africa ranked 86th in an international comparison. The upload rate was only 32.42 Mbit/second (61st place). The quality of the Internet, consisting of signal fluctuations (jitter) and latency, is very far ahead at 20th place.In mobile internet, i.e. on tablets and smartphones, South Africa comes 53rd with a download speed of 46.45 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 12 Mbit was enough for 85th place.
The "Speedtest Global Index" published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in Mai 2021 from 180 countries.
The following diagrams show the development of the various telephone and Internet connections as a percentage of the country's population. Values above 100% mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.
Access to the Internet in South Africa from 1990 - 2019
Broadband internet in South Africa 2002 - 2019
Landlines 1990 - 2019
Mobile phones 1990 - 2019
| Spreading in 2019 | South Africa Total | South Africa percent | EU Total | EU percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internet users | 32.89 m | 56.17 % | 382.36 m | 85.43 % |
| Broadband users | 1.25 m | 2.14 % | 158.30 m | 35.37 % |
| Landlines | 2.02 m | 3.46 % | 165.48 m | 36.97 % |
| Mobile cellulars | 96.97 m | 165.60 % | 542.60 m | 121.23 % |