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South Africa’s monthly broadband internet costs are the 93rd highest in the world

Research from Cable.co.uk has shed new light on the cost of broadband around the world.

The research analysed 3 303 fixed line broadband deals in 195 countries with assistance from insight consultancy BVA BDRC.

Before we take a look at how South Africa fared, let’s take a look at the top and bottom of the chart. Note, all the pricing is in US dollars.

The cheapest broadband internet can be found in the Ukraine where fixed-line broadband internet will cost you just $5 per month. The average speed of that internet is 11.28Mbps.

The most expensive fixed-line broadband can be found in Mauritania where prices average $768.16 per month and average internet speeds are as low as 0.7Mbps.

“Generally speaking, the most expensive countries in the world for broadband are also some of the slowest. All of them average less than 5Mbps, which is too slow to stream an HD movie – something you’re sure to want if you’re paying $500 or more for your broadband every month,” writes Cable.co.uk.

Closer to home

Bringing the data closer to home Sub-Saharan Africa has some of the most expensive fixed-line broadband in the world.

Aside from that, the region also has the highest number of nations that didn’t qualify for a ranking due to insufficient or non-existent fixed-line broadband packages. The countries that didn’t qualify are:

  • Central African Republic
  • Western Sahara
  • Eritrea
  • Gambia
  • Guinea
  • Equatorial Guinea
  • Kiribati
  • Liberia
  • Malawi
  • Rwanda
  • Senegal
  • South Sudan
  • Chad
  • Togo
  • Uganda
  • Zambia

“Most Sub-Saharan African nations fall in the bottom half of the table, and the region also contains the greatest density of countries in the 10% most expensive in the world, with Mali, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Namibia and Mauritania all among the ten most expensive,” writes Cable.co.uk.

In Namibia the average cost of fixed-line broadband is $383.83 with average speeds of 2.62Mbps.

South Africa is marginally better with the average cost of fixed-line broadband coming in at $55.25. That places the country 93rd in the world.

The cheapest package sampled in South Africa cost just R99 per month while the most expensive came in at R1 789.

The good news is that locally speaking fixed-line broadband is getting cheaper. Prices fell $3.59 year-on-year and the result is that we climbed the ranks from 102 to 93.

This trend is in keeping with the rest of the world where prices are dropping (globally prices have dropped 1.64% since Q4 2017) but South Africa, much like our regional peers, has a long way to go yet before we can really consider our internet affordable.

The average speed for fixed-line broadband in South Africa was not disclosed

 

[Source – Cable.co.uk] [Image – CC 0 Pixabay]

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