Getting Online in South Africa

Chapter 02 · 2013–2019

Broadband becomes mobile and local

Between 2013 and 2019 access moved closer to users. Mobile devices became the ordinary route online, municipalities deployed public Wi-Fi, open-access fibre reached its first neighbourhoods, and the price of data became a formal competition issue.

Key figures

All three figures measure households in the same survey series, so they can be compared with one another.

  • Households using mobile devices to access the internet

    > 30%

    2013 · South Africa · percent of households (more than)

    The source reports more than 30%. The 2011 question used different wording, so the two years are not comparable.

    Statistics South Africa

  • Households reporting an internet connection at home

    ≈ 10%

    2013 · South Africa · percent of households (about)

    Comparable with the mobile figure for the same year. Mobile access was roughly three times more common than a connection at home.

    Statistics South Africa

  • Households using public access services

    1.8%

    2013 · South Africa · percent of households

    The same release records 2.8% in metropolitan areas, 0.6% in rural areas and 0.6% in the Eastern Cape.

    Statistics South Africa

How households got online in 2013

Three ways households reached the internet in 2013, measured on the same basis in the same year.

How households reached the internet in 2013 Mobile devices: > 30% (percent of households (more than), 2013). Connection at home: ≈ 10% (percent of households (about), 2013). Public access: 1.8% (percent of households, 2013) Mobile devices > 30% Connection at home ≈ 10% Public access 1.8%

Scroll the chart sideways, or open its data table below.

Household measures for 2013. More than 30% and about 10% are qualified figures in the source; the bars show their stated reference values.

Sources: Statistics South Africa Statistics South Africa

View data table: How households reached the internet in 2013
How households reached the internet in 2013
Measure Value Year Unit / population Place Source
Mobile devices > 30% 2013 percent of households (more than) · households South Africa Statistics South Africa
Connection at home ≈ 10% 2013 percent of households (about) · households South Africa Statistics South Africa
Public access 1.8% 2013 percent of households · households South Africa Statistics South Africa

What happened

Phones become the main way online

By 2013, more than 30% of households used mobile devices to access the internet, while about 10% reported a connection at home. Statistics South Africa found that 1.8% of households used public access services, with higher use in metropolitan areas than in rural ones.

The public-access percentage is small, but it helps explain why municipal Wi-Fi was discussed as a social-access project rather than only as a convenience.

Sources: Statistics South Africa Statistics South Africa

Plans and what actually happened

Cabinet adopted SA Connect, the national broadband policy and strategy, on 4 December 2013. Implementation covered public facilities, schools, health services, spectrum policy and digital skills. Phase 1 originally aimed to connect 6,135 government facilities across eight rural districts; the DCDT later recorded the scope reduced to 970 because of budget limits. The City of Tshwane began its free Wi-Fi network in November 2013 and reported 575 sites by May 2015.

The Tshwane numbers are municipal programme figures. They show the scale claimed by the City, not a national household-access measure.

Sources: South African Government Department of Communications and Digital Technologies City of Tshwane

Fibre grows, but data is still expensive

Vumatel was founded in 2014 and used Parkhurst, Johannesburg, for an open-access fibre-to-the-home pilot, separating the fibre infrastructure from the retail service provider. In December 2019 the Competition Commission reported that South African prepaid mobile-data prices were high in international and cross-African comparisons.

Statistics South Africa described the fibre-to-the-home market as promising but concentrated in higher-income communities that already had comparatively good access. Fibre was a large technical improvement where it was built; it did not remove the geographic and income divide.

Sources: Vumatel Competition Commission South Africa Statistics South Africa

Milestones, 2013–2019

Policy decisions, municipal Wi-Fi, the first open-access fibre and the data-price inquiry, in date order.

  1. Public access

    City of Tshwane free Wi-Fi, phase 1

    Phase 1 began in November 2013 with capacity for 25,000 users across five sites in Soshanguve, Mamelodi and Atteridgeville.

    Why this matters: The City treated public Wi-Fi as a social-access project rather than a convenience. The figures describe municipal capacity, not household access.

    Sources: City of Tshwane

  2. Policy and regulation

    Cabinet adopts SA Connect

    Cabinet adopted SA Connect, the national broadband policy and strategy, on 4 December 2013. Implementation covered public facilities, schools, health services, spectrum policy, infrastructure planning and digital skills.

    Why this matters: It set national targets. Its later history shows the difference between setting a target and delivering against it.

    Sources: South African Government

  3. Fibre to the home

    Vumatel's Parkhurst open-access FTTH pilot

    Vumatel was founded in 2014 and used Parkhurst, Johannesburg, for an open-access fibre-to-the-home pilot. The network model separated the fibre infrastructure from the retail service provider.

    Why this matters: An important early open-access FTTH deployment. Vumatel describes itself as having pioneered FTTH in South Africa; because that is a company claim it is not treated here as an uncontested national first.

    Sources: Vumatel

  4. Public access

    Tshwane reports 575 Wi-Fi sites

    By the May 2015 State of the City address, the City reported 575 sites and more than 560,000 registered devices or users.

    Why this matters: These are municipal programme figures. They show the scale claimed by the City, not a national household-access measure.

    Sources: City of Tshwane

  5. Policy and regulation

    SA Connect Phase 1 scope reduced

    Phase 1 originally aimed to connect 6,135 government facilities across eight rural districts. The DCDT later recorded that the scope was reduced to 970 because of budget limits.

    Why this matters: Both numbers are needed to read the policy accurately. One records the intention, the other the implementation constraint.

    Sources: Department of Communications and Digital Technologies

  6. Research network

    Rural Campuses Connection Project completes

    The Rural Campuses Connection Project ran from 2010 to 2019. TENET records that at completion the main campus of nearly every public university had at least a 10 Gbps connection.

    Why this matters: National fibre expansion in this period was not only a residential story. Academic capacity reached campuses outside the largest cities.

    Sources: TENET

  7. Affordability

    Data Services Market Inquiry final findings

    The Competition Commission opened its Data Services Market Inquiry in August 2017 and released final findings on 2 December 2019, concluding that South African prepaid mobile-data prices were high in international and cross-African comparisons.

    Why this matters: Affordability had become serious enough to trigger a formal market inquiry and regulatory recommendations. The report does not support a timeless statement that South Africa has the most expensive data.

    Sources: Competition Commission South Africa

Sources