Internet in South Africa is developed, prevalent, and continuing to advance and expand. SA is one of the most technologically resourced countries on the African continent. The internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) .za is regulated by the .za Domain Name Authority (.ZADNA) and was granted to South Africa by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in 1990.
In January 2025, there were 50.8 million internet users in South Africa, constituting 79.6% of the population.
Fibre-to-the-premises (for residential and commercial users) is common throughout major metropolitan areas in the country. There are four major fibre network operators (FNOs) in SA, via which dozens of ISPs offer a wide variety of uncapped internet packages, with speeds ranging from 50 Mbps on the low end to 1 Gbps at the top end.
Satellite internet is an option for those residing in more rural areas. Streaming services are commonly used for content, many companies use the internet to conduct business (or work on an entirely remote basis), and the internet service provider (ISP) landscape is highly competitive, which keeps prices low.
The country has four major cellular providers, as well as numerous MVNOs. 5G mobile connectivity is present across South Africa, and continually expanding.
History
The first South African IP address was granted to Rhodes University in 1988 and on 2 February 1989 the first email in the country was sent from the Rhodes Cyber system at the university, through FidoNet, to Randy Bush in Portland, Oregon.
On 12 November 1991, the first IP connection was made between Rhodes' computing centre and Bush in Oregon. By November 1991, South African universities were connected through UNINET to the Internet. Commercial Internet access for businesses and private use began in June 1992 with the registration of the first .co.za subdomain .
The African National Congress, South Africa's governing political party at the time, registered its website (anc.org.za) in 1997, and later changed it to anc1912.org.za, making it one of the first African political organizations to establish an Internet presence; around the same time, the Freedom Front Plus ()Freedom Front Plus registered .
The dial-up era
Dial-up internet used to be offered by Telkom, which, until 2024, was a state-owned enterprise, given that the majority shareholder was the Government of South Africa. As a result, for many years, Telkom had a monopoly on fixed-line internet across the entire country. Development was slow and infrastructure maintenance was poor.
The ADSL and broadband era
The first true ADSL solution for consumers launched in 2001, and was branded "Turbo Access". The service was a tender awarded to Africa Data Holdings. Solutions ranged from a basic rate line (2 x 64-kbit/s B channels and one 16-kbit/s D channel). Most home users had a 64 kbit/s Internet connection, utilising the second B Channel for telephony. Larger businesses took advantage of a primary rate ISDN (The T1 line consists of 23 bearer (B) channels and one data (D) channel for control purposes) for common needs, like switchboards and fax solutions.
The ISDN Terminal Adapters were all supplied by Eicon Networks Corporation, which was later bought by Dialogic Corp. This was the very first introduction of "Broadband" into South Africa, and a platform for growth. Utilising ISDN, WAN Africa Data Holdings (later dissolved into the Converge Group) introduced many (at the time) revolutionary solutions like fax; Unified Messaging (email, fax, voicemail); Remote Access Service (RAS); and Voice over IP.
In 2006, the Government of South Africa began prohibiting sites hosted in the country from displaying X18 (explicitly sexual) and XXX content (including child pornography and depictions of violent sexual acts); site owners who refuse to comply are punishable under the Film and Publications Act.
Under the Electronic Communications and Transactions Act of 2002 (ECTA), ISPs are required to respond to and implement take-down notices regarding illegal content such as child pornography, defamatory material, and copyright violations. Members of the Internet Service Providers Association are not liable for third-party content they do not create or select, however, they can lose this protection from liability if they do not respond to take-down requests. ISPs often err on the side of caution by taking down content to avoid litigation since there is no incentive for providers to defend the rights of the original content creator, even if they believe the take-down notice was requested in bad faith. There is no existing appeal mechanism for content creators or providers.
The total number of wireless broadband subscribers overtook that of fixed line broadband subscribers in South Africa during 2007.
Also in 2007, Broadband Infraco (BBI) was established through the Broadband Infraco Act No.33, of 2007, passed by the South African Parliament. Its main goal was to ensure that all communities in South Africa were connected to the internet, with a specific focus on underserved areas.
South Africa's total international bandwidth reached the 10 Gbit/s mark during 2008, and its continued increase is being driven primarily by the uptake of broadband and lowering of tariffs. Three new submarine cable projects have brought more capacity to South Africa from 2009—the SEACOM cable entered service in June 2009, the EASSy cable in July 2010, and the WACS cable in May 2012. Additional international cable systems have been proposed or are under construction (for details see active and proposed cable systems below).
In August 2009, ADSL broadband prices began to drop significantly when major South African ISP Afrihost entered the market with packages priced as low as R29 ($) per gigabyte, resulting in other ISPs lowering their prices."R 29 per GB ADSL offering launched", Rudolph Muller, MyBroadband, 22 September 2009, retrieved 6 June 2013 Since then, thanks to more ISPs entering the market, the price for data has decreased – in February 2014, Webafrica started offering ADSL from R1.50 ($) per GB.
In late 2009, Telkom began trialling 8 and 12 Mbit/s ADSL offerings."12 Mbps ADSL upgrades trialed", Rudolph Muller, MyBroadband, 24 January 2010 In August 2010, Telkom officially introduced ADSL at 10 Mbit/s. More than 20,000 4 Mbit/s subscribers were upgraded free of charge. As of October 2018, fixed line DSL speeds on offer ranged between 2 Mbit/s to 40 Mbit/s.
In 2012, there were 1.1 million fixed line broadband subscribers"Fixed (wired)-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012" , Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE, International Telecommunication Union. Retrieved on 29 June 2013. and 12.7 million wireless broadband subscribers."Active mobile-broadband subscriptions per 100 inhabitants 2012" , Dynamic Report, ITU ITC EYE, International Telecommunication Union. Retrieved on 29 June 2013.
In September 2012, the Constitutional Court upheld a ruling that prescreening publications (including internet content), as required by the 2009 amendments to the Films and Publications Act of 1996, was an unconstitutional limitation on freedom of expression.
In 2013, the South African Parliament approved SA Connect, the implementation of the country's national broadband policy. Its goal was to ensure broadband connectivity at all 6,135 government facilities, including schools, health facilities, post offices, police stations, and government offices, in the eight rural district municipalities. It also sought to ensure some level of connectivity in all South African communities, with a particular focus on underserved areas.
The rollout is being administered by the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) and Broadband Infraco (BBI), the latter of which is a Tier 1 financer of the WACS African undersea cable system.
In 2022, Phase 2 of SA Connect was approved, with a target of 100% connectivity at the end of the 2026 fiscal year. In 2024, connectivity stood at 78.9%.
The fibre era
In March 2022, then-Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Patricia de Lille, published the government's National Infrastructure Plan 2050. In it, the government set a goal of providing all households in South Africa with a minimum of 50GB of free data per month by the end of the 2025/26 South African financial year (February 2026). No income limitations would be placed on the provision, so all households will be eligible.
Then-Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni, said at the time that data had become a new utility, like water and electricity, and was a necessity for all households. A request for a broadband fund was made to the National Treasury. The same funds will also be used for free data provisions to public Wi-Fi hotspots, specifically for low-income households, and in rural communities across SA.
In October 2025, it was announced that Fibertime, a local low-cost FNO and ISP, had connected 200,000 houses to its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) service. Fibertime is focused on the lower-income market, and plans to reach 1.8 million houses by April 2028. The company offered a fibre product for as little as R35 a week (equating to R5 a day).
At the time, multiple other FNOs had also connected low-income homes, including Wire-Wire, Ilitha Telecoms, Zing Fibre, and Vumatel. In the same month, having connected 30,000 low-income homes thus far, Vumatel offered its Vuma Key product at R99 per month, making it the cheapest monthly fibre product in South Africa at the time.
On 2 October 2025, the South African government launched the Broadband Infraco Modernised National Broadband Backbone. The modernized backbone is an upgraded, open-access fibre optic network, with the goal of providing faster, more resilient long-distance connectivity across South Africa, and into neighboring countries. Communications Minister Solly Malatsi said the launch would provide a foundation for e-learning, fintech, AI, and e-government. The backbone serves to position South Africa as the tech hub of Africa, give SMMEs a platform to thrive, and ensure every learner and entrepreneur can connect reliably.
The infrastructure serves as the backbone for national and municipal broadband access, aimed at closing the digital divide, stimulating innovation, and enabling economic growth and job creation.
At the time of the launch, it was providing connectivity to 1.8 million households and supported 79 ISPs. Malatsi confirmed that SA Connect had received R710 million over the medium term to drive its expansion. Between April 2023 and March 2025, Broadband Infraco connected 3,401 public Wi-Fi hotspots. Malatsi also confirmed that the program had made significant progress over the preceding 2 years, and that it was expected to reach 5.5 million households by the end of 2026.
In July 2026, it was announced that South Africa would host Google's first African connectivity hub (Digital Exchange Port). The exchange, which will be constructed in the Eastern Cape province, will position SA as a strategic international internet connectivity hub, connecting the country to Australia, via the Umoja undersea cable, and India, via a separate cable.
Recent developments
In July 2026, Amazon announced it had partnered with South African FNO Herotel to launch the Amazon Leo satellite internet service. At the time, Amazon had 375 production satellites in orbit, and a goal of 1,618 satellites by the end of that same month. Amazon said its highest-end Leo service would offer speeds of up to 1Gpbs. Herotel, the first Amazon Leo distributor in SA, will sell the service as part of a new product line called Evry. As part of the announcement, President Cyril Ramaphosa and Communications Minister Solly Malatsi met with Amazon Chief Global Affairs Officer David Zapolsky.