South Africa now has more than 1 Million broadband connections, made up mainly of ADSL and HSDPA subscribers. <\/p>\n
Telkom currently has in the region of 415 000 ADSL subscribers, and previously indicated that it is on track to hit their 420 000 target by the end of March.<\/p>\n
Vodacom has 360 000 3G\/HSDPA data card users while MTN recently announced that they now have 120 000 3G\/HSDPA data card users on their South African network. This brings the total number of ADSL and HSDPA subscribers to 895 000.<\/p>\n
iBurst currently has 60 000 subscribers while it is estimated that around 45 000 broadband users are served by Wireless Internet Service Providers around the country. <\/p>\n
Add the few thousand MyWireless users and it brings the total number of broadband subscribers to just over 1 Million. <\/p>\n
While this is a milestone well worth celebrating in the local broadband environment, the country’s broadband penetration rate of 2% is still very far below international standards.<\/p>\n
The average broadband penetration rate in OECD countries is 18.8% with Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Korea, Norway and Iceland leading the way with over 29 subscribers per 100 inhabitants each.<\/p>\n
Experts estimate that the number of broadband connections will grow to between 1.5 Million and 2 Million by 2010.<\/p>\n