Increased internet access in South Africa
1 July 2015
South Africa is forecast to see a massive jump in internet traffic as more
people switch to smartphones and other smart devices.
This is according to the Cisco Visual Networking Index 2015, which predicts that
there will be 27 million internet users in South Africa by 2019, up from just 15
million in 2014. Internet protocol (IP) traffic is also forecast to grow six-fold,
representing an annual growth rate of 44%.
Cisco said that a significant percentage of that growth would centre on internet
video consumption, with South Africans expected to download 43 billion minutes of
video content by 2019.
"South Africans are well on their way to adopt video and by 2019 the citizens
would have streamed 43 billion minutes of video content. This stat highlights that
consumers and businesses alike are using rich media clips as they head towards the
digital era with the internet of everything," said Vernon Thaver, the chief technology
officer of Cisco South Africa.
Mobile video traffic in South Africa is also expected to grow at 73% as people
increasingly stream video content to smartphones.
Mobile devices and usage
Previous research conducted by other organisations has also explained how
important smartphones are to South Africa's internet landscape.
In a study produced by Orange Horizons on the provision of wi-fi in Mitchells
Plain and Khayelitsha in Cape Town, 94% of respondents said that their primary
means of connecting to the internet was a smartphone.
Viewing social media, downloading content and streaming made up the most of
the users' activities, according to the study.
Meanwhile, Cisco's research indicated that by 2019, smartphones would cement
their position as the primary internet tool, commanding 30% (57.5 million) of all
networked devices, up from 22% last year in South Africa.
The demand for video would also drive new internet video services
which were
expected to account for 78% of all IP traffic, the company said.
"Residential, business and mobile consumers continue to have strong demand
for advanced video services across all network and device types, making quality,
convenience, content/experience and price key success factors," said the Cisco
report.
Cisco also predicted that South Africa's average broadband speed would grow
to 10mbps in 2019, up from 3.5mbps, resulting in the correlated growth of machine
to machine communications and smart TVs.
"We are entering into a very dynamic technological era and the rapid increase
in connected devices will benefit a wide range of industries, including
manufacturing, transportation, oil and gas, utilities, government, health care, sports
and entertainment, education, in terms of increased efficiency, reduced costs, and,
most important, improvement of the lives of citizens," said Thaver.
Source: News24Wire
More smart phones in the South African market means more people will be surfing the internet. (Image: Flickr)
