Cost of Internet access in South Africa (1993-2003)

This table lists the cost of spending 10, 20 and 40 hours on-line per month during each year over the last decade. The average ISP costs are based on information provided by ISPA members and readers of the IOZ mailing list. The Telkom costs are for 10, 20 or 40 hours of local calls charges during peak call-times (business hours); these prices do not take call charging schemes such as CallMore or SurfMore into account. The Telkom  price is made up of the line rental cost plus the timed call charges. Telkom charges for the 1992 to 1999 years were kindly provided by Victor Wilson.

Note: The figure of R100 for the average ISP cost for 2003 is a conservative estimate. The Telkom charges for 2003 are based on the tariffs filed by Telkom with ICASA.

 

The graph below shows the escalating cost of spending time online. Notice the particularly sharp increase since 2001.


The pie charts below compare the relative contributions of ISPs and Telkom to these costs. These graphs are based on the figures for 20 hours per month on-line.