In South Africa, we often celebrate our braai culture as a common denominator in our diverse society, but there is something else we have in common – frustration with slow internet speed. If you don’t travel much, you might not be used to anything quicker, but that doesn’t mean you don’t get annoyed with buffering and slow connections. Is internet speed in South Africa like our electricity supply? Are we just happy to at least have something?
Much of modern-day living is about convenience and immediate gratification. We struggle when we must wait. It is not always about being impatient, it might be about expecting better performance. Performance isn’t always as commendable as it sounds. High performance standards can easily compromise relationships and your own mental well-being. But the expectations are not going anywhere and when you google the biggest frustrations of our modern life, you’ll find slow Wi-Fi, computers that freeze and low phone batteries at the top of the list.
Recent figures show South Africa ranked at number 56 in the world for mobile speed and at 95 for fixed broadband speed. (Read more) South Africa’s internet speed in 2022 according to data published by Ookla (Read more), is 30.54 Mbps for mobile internet connection via cellular networks and 29.73 Mbps for fixed internet connection speed. Compare this to the fixed broadband speed in Jersey (the fastest in the world) at 274.3 Mbps, The Netherlands at 107.3 (number 9 on the world ranking) and the UK at 65.89 Mbps. (See a map with global internet speeds)
Why do we have this need for speed? More than getting your boss of your back a bit quicker and having less complaints from your kids, fast internet has become indispensable in most aspects of life, whether it is business, leisure, work, school or entertainment.
Earlier this month, Google’s Equiano subsea internet cable landed in Melkbosstrand, completing its course from Portugal along the West Coast of Africa. According to Business Insider, this 144Tbps, 12 fibre pair Equiano cable promises faster and better-priced internet by then end of 2022. This cable promises 20 times more network capacity than the previous cable for our region. What makes the future seem even brighter is that the world’s longest subsea cable, the Meta-backed 2Africa, connecting Africa, Asia and Europe, should come online in 2024 with landings in the Western and Eastern Cape as well as KwaZulu-Natal.
Despite President Ramaphosa’s new energy plan, South Africans can’t be blamed if they’re not overly optimistic about power supply. But we do have reason to celebrate what is hopefully soon to be faster internet!