South Africa - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Last updated: 5 Aug 2020 Update History

Report Pages: 194

Analyst: Henry Lancaster

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Summary
Table Of Contents

South Africa to offer additional spectrum to address data traffic spike

South Africa’s telecom sector boasts one of the most advanced infrastructures on the continent. There is has been considerable investment from Telkom, Liquid Telecom South Africa, Broadband InfraCo and municipal providers as well as from mobile network operators all aimed at improving network capabilities. The focus in recent years has been on backhaul capacity and on fibre and LTE networks to extend and improve internet service connectivity. With the ongoing migration to fibre, the incumbent telco Telkom expects to close down its copper network in 2024.

The poor historic availability and level of service of fixed-line networks encouraged the growth of the mobile sector for both voice and data services and this segment continues to command most investment and effort among telcos. Under a converged regulatory regime many alternative service providers have been able to enter the market to offer a range of services. This regime also encouraged the major mobile network operators to move into the fixed-line and fibre sector.

Other key regulatory matters aimed at shaping the market include the licensing of LTE spectrum in several bands. A multi-spectrum auction has been delayed since late 2016 and this has caused some difficulties for network operators gearing up to launch 5G services. The regulator planned to auction additional spectrum to operators in December 2020, enabling licensees to extend the existing services (based on trial licenses) introduced to manage the spike in data traffic resulting from the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

BuddeComm notes that the outbreak of the Coronavirus in 2020 is having a significant impact on production and supply chains globally. During the coming year the telecoms sector to various degrees is likely to experience a downturn in mobile device production, while it may also be difficult for network operators to manage workflows when maintaining and upgrading existing infrastructure. Overall progress towards 5G may be postponed or slowed down in some countries.

On the consumer side, spending on telecoms services and devices is under pressure from the financial effect of large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes. However, the crucial nature of telecom services, both for general communication as well as a tool for home-working, will offset such pressures. In many markets the net effect should be a steady though reduced increased in subscriber growth.

Although it is challenging to predict and interpret the long-term impacts of the crisis as it develops, these have been acknowledged in the industry forecasts contained in this report.

The report also covers the responses of the telecom operators as well as government agencies and regulators as they react to the crisis to ensure that citizens can continue to make optimum use of telecom services. This can be reflected in subsidy schemes and the promotion of tele-health and tele-education, among other solutions.

Key developments

Telkom enters the mobile financial services sector; MTN South Africa relaunches m-money service;
Rain launches standalone 5G network in Cape Town;
Regulator to auction additional 5G spectrum in December 2020;
Telkom’s fibre infrastructure passing close to three million premises;
Comsol starts 5G fixed-wireless trials using spectrum in the 28MHz band;
Regulator sets MTRs through to October 2020;
Report update includes the regulator's the regulator's March 2020 report on the ICT sector, operator data to June 2020, Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, assessment of the global impact of COVID-19 on the telecoms sector, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report

Vodacom, MTN (MTN Network Solutions), Cell C, Telkom (Heita, 8ta), Virgin Mobile, Neotel, Atlantic Internet Services, Business Connexion, Internet Solutions, Verizon Business, MWEB, Vox Telecom (DataPro), Sentech, iBurst (WBS, Blue Label), Liquid Telecom South Africa (Neotel, Tata), Virgin Mobile, Broadband InfraCo, Transtel, Eskom, SEACOM, Transtel, Eskom, SITA, Sentech, Dark Fibre Africa (DFA), FibreCo, eFive, WASACE.

Key Statistics
Regional Market Comparison

TMI vs GDP
Mobile and mobile broadband
Fixed and mobile broadband

Country overview
COVID-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Economic considerations and responses
Mobile devices
Subscribers
Infrastructure

Telecommunications market

Market analysis

Regulatory environment

Historical overview
Regulatory authority
Fixed line developments

Telecommunications Act
Telecommunications Amendment Act
Electronic Communications Acts (2005, 2014)
Regulation of Interception of Communications Act 2002
Electronic Communications Act and ICASA Amendment Act
Converged licensing regime
New Companies Act
Universal Service and Access Fund (USAF)
Interconnection

Mobile network developments

Spectrum
Mobile Termination Rates (MTRs)
Mobile Number Portability (MNP)
SIM card registration
Infrastructure sharing
Roaming

Mobile market

Mobile statistics
Mobile voice (VoLTE/Wi-Fi calling)
Mobile data

Mobile broadband
Mobile infrastructure

5G
4G (LTE)
LTE-U
3G
GSM
Other infrastructure developments

Major mobile operators

Vodacom South Africa
MTN South Africa
Cell C
Telkom Mobile
Mobile Virtual Network Enablers (MVNEs)
Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs)

Mobile content and applications

m-music
CellBook
m-banking
m-gaming
m-health
Mobile advertising
Location-based services (LBS)
Manobi
Mobile social media

Fixed-line broadband market

Market analysis
Community access projects

Microsoft Digital Villages and telecentres
The Smart Cape Access Project

Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA)
Internet Exchange Points (IXP)
Broadband statistics
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) networks

Wholesale
ADSL2+
VDSL

Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
Other fixed broadband services

Broadband over Powerlines (BPL)
Fixed wireless

Digital economy

E-learning
E-government
E-health
E-banking

Fixed network operators

Telkom
Neotel

Telecommunications infrastructure

Overview of the national telecom network
National fibre infrastructure

Broadband InfraCo
Dark Fibre Africa
Vodacom
MTN
FibreCo

International submarine cables

SAT-3/WASC/SAFE
SEACOM
EASSy
WACS
African Coast to Europe (ACE)
SAEx, WASACE
Seaborn
METISS
PEACE
2Africa submarine cable

Satellite
Next Generation Networks (NGN)
Municipal networks

Knysna – Africa’s first municipal network

Data centres
Smart infrastructure

Smart cities

Appendix – Historic data
Glossary of abbreviations
Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities – South Africa – 2020 (e)
Table 2 – Change in the proportion of households with telecom service by type – 2014 – 2018
Table 3 – Development of Telecom sector investment – 2015 – 2019
Table 4 – Development of telecom sector investment by sector – 2015 – 2019
Table 5 – Development of telecom sector revenue by service – 2015 – 2019
Table 6 – Development of total telecom and broadcasting revenue – 2015 – 2019
Table 7 – Change in fixed revenue by type – 2015 – 2019
Table 8 – Development of mobile sector revenue – 2015 – 2019
Table 9 – Change in mobile revenue by sector – 2015 – 2019
Table 10 – Development of mobile prepaid revenue by type – 2015 – 2019
Table 11 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2010 – 2025
Table 12 – Change in the number of prepaid and contract mobile subscribers – 2015 – 2019
Table 13 – Change in mobile voice traffic by type – 2015 – 2019
Table 14 – Decline in SMS traffic – 2013 – 2020
Table 15 – Growth in the number of active mobile broadband subscribers – 2010 – 2025
Table 16 – Increase in the number of Telkom’s mobile broadband subscribers by type – 2015 – 2019
Table 17 – Growth in Telkom’s mobile broadband revenue – 2015 – 2020
Table 18 – Growth in Telkom’s mobile data traffic – 2015 – 2020
Table 19 – Growth in overall mobile data traffic – 2015 – 2019
Table 20 – Growth in the number of mobile data subscribers – 2015 – 2019
Table 21 – Telkom LTE subscribers – 2016 – 2018
Table 22 – Development of 4G (WiMAX/LTE) population coverage – 2012 – 2019
Table 23 – Development of 3G population coverage – 2015 – 2019
Table 24 – Growth in the number of M2M connections – 2015 – 2019
Table 25 – Development of Vodacom South Africa’s mobile revenue – 2010 – 2021
Table 26 – Growth in the number of Vodacom South Africa’s subscribers and market share – 2010 - 2020
Table 27 – Change in the number of Vodacom South Africa’s prepaid and contract subscribers – 2017 - 2020
Table 28 – Growth in the number of Vodacom South Africa’s mobile data subscribers – 2013 – 2020
Table 29 – Development of Vodacom South Africa’s mobile ARPU – 2017 – 2020
Table 30 – Change in the number of MTN South Africa’s mobile subscribers and market share – 2010 – 2019
Table 31 – Change in the number of MTN South Africa’s prepaid, contract subscribers – 2013 – 2019
Table 32 – Development of MTN South Africa’s financial data – 2012 – 2019
Table 33 – Development of MTN South Africa’s mobile ARPU – 2013 – 2019
Table 34 – Change in the number of Cell C mobile subscribers – 2013 – 2019
Table 35 – Growth in Cell C’s mobile service revenue – 2013 – 2019
Table 36 – Increase in Cell C’s mobile data revenue – 2017 – 2018
Table 37 – Development of Cell C’s financial data – 2016 – 2019
Table 38 – Growth in the number of Telkom’s mobile subscribers – 2009 – 2019
Table 39 – Growth in the number of Telkom’s prepaid and contract mobile subscribers – 2015 – 2019
Table 40 – Development of Telkom’s mobile financial data – 2014 - 2020
Table 41 – Change in Telkom’s mobile ARPU – 2014 – 2020
Table 42 – National Broadband Policy penetration targets to 2030
Table 43 – Change in fixed internet revenue by type – 2015 – 2019
Table 44 – Development of the Schools Connected program – 2016 – 2019
Table 45 – Growth in the number of fixed-line broadband subscribers and penetration – 2010 – 2025
Table 46 – Change in the number of fixed broadband subscribers by type – 2015 - 2019
Table 47 – Growth in the number of Telkom’s broadband subscribers – 2010 – 2019
Table 48 – Growth in Telkom’s fixed data traffic – 2014 – 2020
Table 49 – Change in the number of Telkom’s DSL subscribers by type – 2016 – 2019
Table 50 – Change in Telkom’s fixed copper and fibre broadband subscribers – 2017 – 2019
Table 51 – Increase in the number of Telkom South Africa’s fibre ports – 2017 – 2019
Table 52 – Telkom South Africa fibre premises passed – 2016 – 2019
Table 53 – Growth in the number of fibre broadband subscribers – 2013 – 2019
Table 54 – Change in the number of fixed wireless broadband subscribers – 2017 – 2019
Table 55 – Development of Telkom Group’s financial results – 2010 – 2020
Table 56 – Change in Telkom Group’s capex by type – 2017 – 2020
Table 57 – Development of Telkom’s data revenue – 2010 – 2020s
Table 58 – Change in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2010 – 2025
Table 59 – Change in the number of fixed lines in service by type – 2015 – 2019
Table 60 – Decline in fixed-line voice traffic – 2015 – 2019
Table 61 – Growth in international internet bandwidth – 2014 – 2019
Table 62 – Historic - Mobile subscribers and penetration rate in South Africa – 1999 – 2009
Table 63 – Historic - Vodacom South Africa subscribers and market share – 2002 - 2009
Table 64 – Historic - MTN South Africa subscribers and market share – 2002 – 2009
Table 65 – Historic - Average internet access speed – 2010 – 2015
Table 66 – Historic - Internet users and penetration rate in South Africa – 1999 – 2015
Table 67 – Historic - Fixed-line broadband subscribers and penetration – 2002 – 2009
Table 68 – Historic -Telkom South Africa broadband subscribers – 2003 – 2009
Table 69 – Historic - Telkom fixed broadband subscribers by type– 2016 – 2018
Table 70 – Historic - Telkom South Africa WiMAX subscribers – 2008 – 2014
Table 71 – Historic - Telkom data revenue – 2002 – 2009
Table 72 – Historic - Fixed lines in service and teledensity in South Africa – 2000 – 2009
Table 73 – Historic - International internet bandwidth – 2000 – 2013

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Overall Africa view - Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita
Chart 2 – Southern Africa - Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per Capita
Chart 3 – Africa – Top-tier Telecoms Maturity Index (Market Leaders)
Chart 5 – Southern Africa mobile subscriber penetration versus mobile broadband penetration
Chart 6 – Southern Africa fixed broadband and mobile broadband penetration rates
Chart 7 – Change in the proportion of households with telecom service by type – 2014 – 2018
Chart 8 – Development of telecom sector investment by sector – 2015 – 2019
Chart 9 – Development of telecom sector revenue by service – 2015 – 2019
Chart 10 – Change in fixed revenue by type – 2015 – 2019
Chart 11 – Change in mobile revenue by sector – 2015 – 2019
Chart 12 – Development of mobile prepaid revenue by type – 2015 – 2019
Chart 13 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2010 – 2025
Chart 14 – Change in the number of prepaid and contract mobile subscribers – 2015 – 2019
Chart 15 – Change in mobile voice traffic by type – 2015 – 2019
Chart 16 – Growth in the number of active mobile broadband subscribers – 2010 – 2025
Chart 17 – Increase in the number of Telkom’s mobile broadband subscribers by type – 2015 – 2019
Chart 18 – Development of 4G (WiMAX/LTE) population coverage – 2012 – 2019
Chart 19 – Development of Vodacom South Africa’s mobile revenue – 2010 – 2021
Chart 20 – Change in the number of Vodacom South Africa’s prepaid and contract subscribers – 2017 - 2020
Chart 21 – Change in the number of Vodacom South Africa’s prepaid and contract subscribers – 2013 - 2020
Chart 22 – Development of Vodacom South Africa’s mobile ARPU – 2017 – 2020
Chart 23 – Change in the number of MTN South Africa’s mobile subscribers and market share – 2010 – 2019
Chart 24 – Change in the number of MTN South Africa’s prepaid, contract subscribers – 2013 – 2019
Chart 25 – Development of MTN South Africa’s financial data – 2012 – 2019
Chart 26 – Development of MTN South Africa’s mobile ARPU – 2013 – 2019
Chart 27 – Development of MTN South Africa’s mobile ARPU – 2013 – 2019
Chart 28 – Development of Cell C’s financial data – 2016 – 2019
Chart 29 – Growth in the number of Telkom’s prepaid and contract mobile subscribers – 2015 – 2019
Chart 30 – Development of Telkom’s mobile financial data – 2014 - 2020
Chart 31 – Change in Telkom’s mobile ARPU – 2014 – 2020
Chart 32 – Change in fixed internet revenue by type – 2015 – 2019
Chart 33 – Growth in the number of fixed-line broadband subscribers and penetration – 2010 – 2025
Chart 34 – Change in the number of fixed broadband subscribers by type – 2015 - 2019
Chart 35 – Growth in the number of Telkom’s broadband subscribers – 2010 – 2019
Chart 36 – Growth in Telkom’s fixed data traffic – 2014 – 2020
Chart 37 – Change in the number of Telkom’s DSL subscribers by type – 2016 – 2019
Chart 38 – Change in Telkom’s fixed copper and fibre broadband subscribers – 2017 – 2019
Chart 39 – Growth in the number of fibre broadband subscribers – 2013 – 2019
Chart 40 – Development of Telkom Group’s financial results – 2014 – 2020
Chart 41 – Change in Telkom Group’s capex by type – 2017 – 2020
Chart 42 – Change in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity – 2010 – 2025
Chart 43 – Change in the number of fixed lines in service by type – 2015 – 2019
Chart 44 – Decline in fixed-line voice traffic – 2015 – 2019

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – Generalised Market Characteristics by Market Segment
Exhibit 2 – Southern Africa - Key Characteristics of Telecoms Markets by Country
Exhibit 3 – 2Africa submarine cable
Exhibit 4 – 2Africa landing stations

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South Africa - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Purchase this Report

South Africa to offer additional spectrum to address data traffic spike

Key developments

Companies mentioned in this report

Key Statistics

Regional Market Comparison

Country overview

COVID-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Mobile market

Fixed-line broadband market

Fixed network operators

Telecommunications infrastructure

Data centres

Smart infrastructure

Appendix – Historic data

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

Purchase this Report

Share this Report

Purchase with Confidence

Research Methodology

Sample Reports

Hot Topics

News & Views