Internet access in South Africa: best and worst provinces

Statistics South Africa has published its General household survey (GHS) 2014, which shows that almost half of South African households (48.7%) had at least one member who used the Internet.

Access to the Internet was highest in the Western Cape (62.1%), Gauteng (59.9%), and the Free State (48.7%). The lowest was in Limpopo (32.6%) and the Eastern Cape (37.4%).

One-tenth of South African households had access to the Internet at home. Access to the Internet in the home was highest in the Western Cape (23.8%) and Gauteng (17.3%).

The GHS survey also found that there was a high amount access to telecommunications for households nationally.

Only 5% of households did not have access to either landlines or cellular phones in 2014. By comparison, 83.1% of households had access to at least one cellular phone.

12.6% of South African households had access to both a landline and a cellular phone. Only 0.2% of households had only a landline.

The following chart shows the percentage of households which have a functional landline and cellular telephone in their dwellings, by province.

Internet access to the home

The following chart shows the percentage of households with access to the Internet at home, or for which at least one member had access to or used the Internet in 2014.

How people access the Internet

The following table shows that households in rural areas had the least access to the Internet, while those in metro areas generally had the best access.