South African broadband users number over 300 000
While most companies are strangely hesitant to supply accurate figures of their number of broadband subscribers, an estimated figure based on reliable sources places the current user base in South Africa well over 300 000.
The latest statistics from Point Topic, an international broadband research firm, puts the number of ADSL subscribers in South Africa at 177 000.
Telkom would not confirm this figure, only stating that there were 143 000 ADSL lines installed by March 2006. Telkom’s CEO did however say in late August that there was in excess of 160 000 subscribers, and ADSL monthly growth patterns indicate that the figure of 177 000 is not far off the mark.
iBurst, which provides fixed and semi-mobile wireless broadband, is increasing both its user base and coverage footprint at a fast rate, and the latest official number of subscribers is 25 000.
Sentech’s MyWireless offering, another wireless broadband service, is continuing to struggle with only a few thousand subscribers. There are no official figures available, but an estimated 4 000 subscribers is the current guestimate.
The most exciting growth is however not taking place in the wired and fixed wireless sectors, but rather in the mobile broadband arena.
While neither Vodacom nor MTN would provide their latest data card user statistics, it is estimated that the combined figure lies in the region of over 100 000 3G and HSDPA data card users.
This figure however increases drastically when including subscribers using 3G enabled phones connecting to the Internet. MTN alone has a total user base of over 200 000 3G users, which gives an indication of the popularity of this new mobile broadband technology.
While most local broadband providers are not willing to make their latest broadband subscription figures available, it is likely that the number of South African broadband users is just over 300 000.
The total of 300 000 broadband users however excludes all mobile handset 3G users and Wireless Internet Service Provider subscribers, which is widely seen as serving in excess of 10 000 users country-wide.
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