Are South Africa’s ADSL and fibre prices really that high?

Over the last decade the high price of ADSL and fibre broadband in South Africa has made headlines, and continue to be a concern to businesses, politicians, and consumers.

These high prices resulted in many initiatives – some of which never materialised – to drive down the cost of broadband in South Africa.

Some of these initiatives include local loop unbundling, cheaper national bandwidth, and a national wireless broadband network.

But is fixed broadband really that expensive in South Africa? Over the years the price of ADSL data has plummeted, and ADSL speeds were increased for free.

The best way to assess whether a country’s broadband services are expensive is to benchmark them against international players.

MyBroadband benchmarked South Africa’s broadband prices against four developed countries: United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.

The results show that local fixed broadband prices are in line with international standards for low-end packages, but remain expensive for high-end services.

Exchange rates used:

• 1 USD = 12.15 ZAR
• 1 AUD = 9.43 ZAR
• 1 GBP = 19.20 ZAR
• 1 NZD = 8.35 ZAR

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