Mobile Data Traffic In South Africa To Hit 98 Percent By 2019

Written by Staff

Mar 01, 2015

Written by Simnikiwe Mzekandaba | From IT Web Africa

Networking technology firm Cisco revealed in its Visual Networking Index Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast for 2014 to 2019 that it expects the country’s “smart” mobile data traffic to rise to 98% by 2019.

In 2014 Cisco reported that 82% of the southern African country’s mobile data traffic was “smart.”Cisco says South Africa’s ongoing adoption of more powerful mobile devices would drive growth in the country’s mobile data traffic.

And according to BMI-TechKnowledge director Brian Neilson the number of active smartphones in South Africa was around 23 million as at year-end 2014. This figure increased by 23% from the December 2013 figure of 19 million smartphones.

“That means nearly 30% of all active SIMs in the market are in smartphones,” said Neilson.

The shift from basic-feature phones to smartphones, growth in tablets, resurgence in laptops with tablet-like capabilities, as well as expanding machine-to-machine (M2M) applications – are key factors supporting the increasing smart traffic trend, reads the report.