As access to mobile phones continues to surge, many more South Africans are becoming connected to the Internet, according to the latest statistics released by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA).

The 2023 General Household Survey (GHS) shows that 96.1% of South African households owned at least one mobile phone and 91.2% of South African households exclusively used cellular phones in 2023.

On the other hand, the percentage of households that used landlines decreased from 33.6% in 2002 to 5% in 2023, and only 0.1% of South African households exclusively used landlines.

The GHS report further shows that, nationally, only 3.8% of households did not have access to either landlines or cellular phones, while 4.9% used cellular phones and landlines.

According to StatsSA, the exclusive use of cellular phones was most common in Mpumalanga at 95.1% and Limpopo at 94.1% and least common in the Northern Cape at 86.3%, while households that used both cellular phones and landlines were most common in the Western Cape at 6.9%.

The increasing use of mobile phones has facilitated greater access to the Internet, with Internet access using mobile technology the most common form of access for 72.6% of South African households.

While the use of mobile Internet devices in rural areas, at 66.3%, still lags behind its use in urban areas, accounting for 76.1%, and metropolitan areas, at 74.6%, it is much more common in rural areas than any of the alternative methods.

About 84.7% of households in metropolitan areas could access the Internet, higher than the national average, with 74.6% of metropolitan residents having access to mobile Internet and 23.8% of metropolitan households having a fixed Internet connection at home.

The national percentage of households with access to the Internet through any means, including mobile, at work and fixed connections, increased from 28% in 2010 to 78.6% by 2023.

The GHS highlights that Internet access using all available means was highest in the Western Cape at 88.1% and in Gauteng at 81.9%, and the lowest in Limpopo at 69.7% and the Eastern Cape at 70.2%.

Access to the Internet through fixed lines at home, including dial-up, ADSL or fibre, remained stable at about 10% between 2010 and 2021, before increasing to 14.5% in 2023.

About 40.1% of households in the Western Cape and 21.5% in Gauteng had access to the Internet at home, accounting for the highest number of users in the country.

Access to the Internet at home was lowest among households in Mpumalanga and Limpopo, with 3.1% and 4.5% of household respectively accessing the Internet at home.

Meanwhile, of the 78.6% of South African households that had at least one member who had access to or used the Internet at one or more locations, 14% accessed the Internet at work, 8% used public WiFi, 6.9% used Internet cafés, 4.6% used educational facilities and 3.5% accessed the Internet at a library.

Access to public WiFi spots was highest in the Western Cape at 14.9% and Gauteng at 11.3%, and lowest in the Eastern Cape at 1.6% and Limpopo at 1.9%.