South Africa\u2019s GDP per capita is anticipated to grow by US$241 a year between 2010 and 2020, due to an increase in mobile phone subscriptions.<\/p>\n
This is the finding of a study implemented by the Cologne Institute for Economic Research on behalf of the Vodafone Institute for Society and Communications.<\/p>\n
Entitled \u201cMobile technologies \u2013 The digital fabric of our lives”<\/a>, the report says that mobile subscriptions’ contribution to South Africa\u2019s per capita GDP will be 11% (2010-2012), 3.6% (2012-2015) and 2.4% (2015-2020).<\/p>\n The report puts the country\u2019s GDP per capita at $8,070.<\/p>\n The report notes that\u00a0South Africa is probably the African country whose\u00a0mobile phone adoption is the one most similar to\u00a0figures in Europe. As early as 2000, 19% of South\u00a0Africans had a mobile phone subscription. In 2010,\u00a0statistically every South African had a mobile\u00a0phone subscription<\/a>.<\/p>\n The experts surveyed for the\u00a0study estimate that this figure will grow to 165% in 2020.<\/p>\n Interestingly, the report noted that, unlike many other\u00a0markets, South Africans like Blackberry handsets as\u00a0they enable Blackberry Messages (BBM), which are\u00a0free of charge.<\/p>\n The report notes further that, though South Africa\u2019s mobile market is one of the most developed in Africa, there are some draw-backs.<\/p>\n Broadband penetration is still very low due to its high costs and bad infrastructure. In 2010, less than 2% of the population used a DSL connection.<\/p>\n “Instead many people used and continue to\u00a0use mobile broadband. The dominance of mobile\u00a0broadband will grow in the future due to high\u00a0investments in network infrastructure,” the report said.<\/p>\n In 2010, only 1 in 100 inhabitants had a fixed broadband subscription. The report says that this will only grow to 3% in 2020.<\/p>\n \u201cBy 2020 a positive effect will have been observed in all surveyed countries. Mobile phone adoption will continue to make a significant contribution to economic growth,” said Dr. Karl Lichtblau, MD of the research and consultancy services company, IW Consult.<\/p>\n “However, after the mobile communications boom of recent years, a decline in its contribution to economic growth is to be expected in the emerging markets in the years up to 2020. This is a normalisation effect that sets in when the initial high contribution to growth during the first years of mobile communications ends.”<\/p>\n Mobile set to rock SA Internet<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Fix the internet, boost employment: economist<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n The state of SA broadband<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n SA internet holding back economic growth<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nMore on Mobile and GDP<\/h3>\n
SA Internet population close to 14 million<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n