South Africa Internet users will grow by 20 percent in 2012, which will take the user base past 10 million mark. Internet penetration would grow by the same margin, predicts a study by World Wide Worx set for release in June.
The report released by World Wide Worx Managing Director Arthur Goldstuck ahead of the full report scheduled for release — in June — also revealed that about 7.9 million South Africans access Internet using mobile phones while 6.02 million use computers, laptops, or tablets.
A past study found Internet users grew by 25 percent in 2011 to reach 8.5 million users.
The study identified a double use as 90 percent of those using personal computers and tablets to access the Internet also use mobile phones.
There were 5.5 million 3G users and 8.5 million smartphone owners in South Africa by the end of 2011, says the study.
This reflects the key findings reported by my broadband broadband that found 2.48 million South Africans use primarily their mobile phones to access the Internet.
Arthur Goldstuck said they expect the number of smartphones to increase to over 11 million in 2012. This is expected to increase Internet use and penetration in the country.
Goldstuck stated undersea cable capacity to South Africa at end of 2011 was 2.69 Terabits per second (Tbps). At the end of 2012, this is expected to climb to 11.9Tbps, while South Africa should have 24.6Tbps of undersea capacity by the end of 2013.
