South Africa’s fixed broadband speeds have more than doubled over the past three years, boosted by increased market competition and growth in fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) subscriptions.
This is according to US-based broadband testing diagnostics company Ookla in its latest Speedtest Global Index, which analysed fixed broadband performance in SA.
The broadband testing diagnostics company says Speedtest Global Index rankings are based on median download speed to best reflect the speeds a user is likely to achieve in a market.
Data from Ookla states that SA’s median download speed moved from 15.11Mbps in Q1-Q2 of 2020 to 31.34Mbps in Q1-Q2 of 2022.
In the case of upload speed, the increase has been more pronounced, it notes, indicating improvement from a median upload speed of 8.85Mbps in Q1-Q2 of 2020 to 24.50Mbps in Q1-Q2 of 2022.
In July, the company ranked South Africa in 95th place, with a median download speed of 35.90Mbps and a median upload speed of 29.56Mbps.
Comparatively, the report shows SA ranked 112th in July 2019, with fixed median download and upload speeds of 9.95Mbps and 5.56Mbps, respectively.
Even though data shows improved fixed broadband speeds, the report highlights that adoption is still relatively low.
“There are 17.4 million households in South Africa, and if we translate the overall number of broadband subscriptions into household adoption, this equates to just 10% of South African households having fixed broadband in September 2021.”
Referencing the General Household Survey, the report notes that on the one hand, this marks an improvement over 2020, when less than one-tenth (8.3%) of households had access to fixed internet at home.
On the other hand, however, there was – and is – a significant urban/rural divide. “Fourteen percent of households in metropolitan areas had access to the Internet at home compared to only 0.8% of rural households according to the same survey.”
Room for growth
When measuring how SA stacks up against nations in the BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, and China] block of emerging economies, SA still has a long way to go to catch up to its counterparts, the report finds.
Comparing fixed download speeds across the BRICS countries during Q1-Q2 2022, the report shows China topped the rankings across the five major emerging economies, with a median download speed of nearly 160 Mbps.
South Africa, meanwhile, finished last, indicating that the country still has room to grow in terms of fixed broadband performance and adoption.
It states: “India has already taken steps to improve fixed broadband performance by setting minimum broadband speeds.
“South Africa could also look to Chile for inspiration on how to improve its fixed broadband performance. Currently, Chile tops the ranking in terms of global fixed broadband performance, with a fixed median download speed of 213.73Mbps.
“While it took time, Chile’s healthy fixed broadband performance is due to a mix of a supportive regulatory environment and robust market competition. According to Chilean regulator Subtel, 83% of fixed broadband connections comprise speeds of 100 Mbps thanks to a growing penetration of FFTH.”
Turning to provincial performance, the Gauteng province speeds ahead the country’s average, indicates the report.
Across the nine South African provinces, Gauteng had the best median fixed broadband download and upload speeds at 38.47Mbps and 27.92Mbps, respectively.
The report notes that Gauteng’s leading speeds are due to several operators posting median download speeds faster than 40Mbps, such as Afrihost, Axxess, Cool Ideas, Vox Telecom, and Webafrica.
Northern Cape, on the other hand, the largest but most sparsely populated province in SA, was home to a median download speed three times lower than the country’s average of 31.34Mbps.
Meanwhile, residents in Johannesburg – SA’s largest city and capital of Gauteng province – had the fastest broadband.
The report notes that Johannesburg performed well across the five cities looked at, in terms of median download and upload speeds.
Download speeds in Johannesburg ranged from 25.53Mbps to 51.49Mbps, while in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) speeds were much lower, ranging from 6.36Mbps to 30.11Mbps.
Typically, fibre networks first reach rich and affluent communities that present a fertile ground for their services. For example, a northern suburb of Parkhurst in Johannesburg was fibre provider Vumatel’s first suburb, it states.
The report concludes: “More is needed to improve fixed networks performance and adoption, increasing download speeds require more investment in broadband infrastructure from ISPs and FNOs, but most importantly there is a need for reliable underlying infrastructure.
“Several undersea cables landed in South Africa, including WACS, EASSy, Seacom, SAT3/SAFE, and SACS, with the Equanio and 2Africa cables coming online soon, which helps increase network capacity.
“However, operators are also facing issues related to infrastructure reliability and availability such as load-shedding (rolling power outages). Affordability is another matter that needs to be addressed.”
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