South Africa’s Department of Communications has released an extremely thorough report on the state of broadband. The document is intended to facilitate the creation of a national broadband policy. With comprehensive framework, the hope is that South Africa can become a “global leader in harnessing ICTs for socio-economic development.”

Much of the 44-page presentation is in bullet point form, but four compelling graphs are mixed in as background information:

 

As of March 2012, there were around 3.5 million broadband connections in South Africa, with around 850,000 of these being ADSL (26%), over 2.5 million being 3G/HSPA (69%). 93% of households had mobile phones in 2011, but only 15% had fixed lines, and 10% had broadband internet access.

 

Most public facilities are connected to the Internet. Still more than one-quarter of schools do not have broadband coverage.

 

There are several hundred broadband packages in the market. Prices vary tremendously, but most speeds are under 1.5 Mbps.

 

National broadband coverage is near 30% geographic coverage and 75% population coverage.

Source: “Broadband Presentation: Making South Africa a Global Leader in Harnessing ICTs for Socio-economic Development,” South Africa Department of Communications, Nov 6, 2012. {TechCentral}