New milestone for SA internet

ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK

THE NUMBER of South Africans using the internet has passed the five million mark, reaching 11% of the population. This is according to the latest study on internet access in SA, carried out by World Wide Worx and jointly sponsored by Cisco.

The study found SA's internet user base grew by 15% last year, from 4.6-million to 5.3-million, and is expected to grow at a similar rate in 2010. World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck expects SA internet user numbers to pass the six million mark this year. The figure includes cellphone access for e-mail and browsing, but not for stand-alone internet applications like MXit. Goldstuck notes that the higher economic classes were first to access the internet, but now the middle classes are taking up internet services too.

World Wide Worx found that the landing of a new undersea cable on the South African coast, and the rapid increase in competition had been behind this growth.