A new report reveals that\u00a0there are now more than 70 countries where more than 50% of the population is online.<\/p>\n
South Africa is ranked 92nd globally for internet use in the\u00a0UN Broadband Commission’s latest country-by-country data<\/a>,\u00a0with an estimated 41% of the population online.<\/p>\n This research is\u00a0similar to the findings by the Digital Media and Marketing Association (DMMA<\/a>) and\u00a0Echo Consultancy<\/a>\u00a0who put the total internet population in SA at almost 14 million users, or 39% of the adult population.<\/p>\n The State of Broadband Report for 2013 revealed that the top ten countries for Internet use are all located in Europe, with the exception of New Zealand (8th) and Qatar (10th).<\/p>\n The top 5 countries include:<\/p>\n In Africa, the top 5 countries include:<\/p>\n According to the 2013 edition of the UN report,\u00a0mobile broadband is the fastest growing technology in human history.<\/p>\n Mobile broadband subscriptions, which allow users to access the web via smartphones, tablets and WiFi-connected laptops, are growing at a rate of 30% per year.<\/p>\n Mobile broadband subscriptions overtook fixed broadband subscriptions for the first time in 2008.<\/p>\n By the end of 2013 there will be more than three times as many mobile broadband connections as there are conventional fixed broadband subscriptions.<\/p>\n The top 5 countries in the world for mobile broadband penetration per 100 inhabitants includes:<\/p>\n South Africa is ranked 62nd, with a penetration rate of approximately 26.0 per 100 inhabitants.<\/p>\n At 49, Ghana is the best ranked country in Africa with 33, followed by\u00a0Zimbabwe ranked at 55 (29), Namibia at 56 (29.7), and Egypt at 60 (26.9).<\/p>\n By the end of 2013, ITU predicts there will be 2.1 billion mobile broadband subscriptions, equivalent to one third of the total\u00a0global stock of mobile cellular subscriptions.<\/p>\n The ITU is the leading United Nations agency for information and communication. technology.<\/p>\n The top 5 countries in the world for fixed broadband penetration per 100 inhabitants includes:<\/p>\n For Africa, Seychelles comes in at 62nd with 11.7 out of 100 inhabitants having\u00a0fixed broadband penetration. South Africa is ranked a lowly 111th, with a 2.2 penetration.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile more and more people are coming online, over 90% of people in the world\u2019s 49 Least Developed Countries remain totally unconnected,” \u00a0said ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun I. Tour\u00e9.<\/p>\n The report highlighted a number of key mobile statistics.\u00a0Morgan Stanley (2012) estimates that the number of unique smartphone users is around 1.5 billion in 2013, with smartphone\u00a0subscriptions estimated to exceed 4 billion by 2018 (Ericsson, 2013).<\/p>\n The industry is now shipping 700 million smartphones a year, with around 40% of all handsets shipped in 2012 being smartphones.\u00a0Looking to the future, mobile broadband is projected to reach seven billion subscriptions in 2018, ITU said.<\/p>\n LongTerm Evolution (LTE) Advanced alone may account for 500 million subscriptions by 2018,\u00a0while Pyramid (2013) projects that, globally, 4G subscriptions are expected to grow tenfold over five years, from 88 million in 2012 to 864 million in 2017.<\/p>\n Mobile set to rock SA Internet<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Africa\u2019s telecoms sector at inflection point: PwC<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n SA Internet population close to 14 million<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Broadband speeds: how does SA stack up?<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n
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More news on broadband<\/h3>\n