Broadband technologies: SA versus the world
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently released its June 2009 statistics on broadband in OECD countries. The latest statistics include figures on the average number of broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants in OECD (average 22.8) and which technologies are the most popular around the globe.
According to the OECD report DSL remains the most popular technology with 60% of all broadband subscribers in the OECD accessing the Internet via ADSL. Cable modems remain popular in countries like the US and Canada and accounts for 29% of all broadband connections while Fibre & LAN connections are gaining ground with 9% market share. Only 2% of broadband subscribers in the OECD regions use something other than these three fixed line connections.
In South Africa the situation looks very different. Only 29% of broadband subscribers in South Africa used ADSL – and hence a fixed line broadband connection – well below the OECD standard of 98%. Wireless broadband connections account for 71% of all broadband connections in the country of which around 66% are 3G/HSDPA connections provided by Vodacom and MTN.
While wireless technologies like HSPA are consistently improving in terms of speed and latency, the low usage limits and high per-GB cost associated with mobile broadband means that most broadband users in South Africa have a very restrictive Internet experience.
Broadband technologies: SA versus the world
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