South Africa’s telecommunications experienced growth in 2024, driven by a surge in fibre subscriptions, heightened engagement on social media platforms and substantial advancements in network coverage.

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa's (Icasa’s) tenth yearly ‘State of Information, Communications and Technology (ICT) sector’ report shows that fixed broadband subscriptions surged from 1.4-million in 2023 to 2.7-million by the end of 2024, mostly owing to the rapid adoption of fibre-optic solutions.

Fibre-to-the-home/building Internet subscriptions increased to 2.47-million in 2024, from 1.49-million in 2023, underscoring the growing reliance on high-speed Internet connectivity.

Digital subscriber lines Internet subscriptions continued to decrease, declining from 255 223 in 2023 to 241 947 in 2024. This is a significant decline on the 1.65-million recorded in 2019 and the 453 771 in 2020, indicating a reduced demand for legacy broadband technologies.

This is also reflected in the reduction in fixed-line voice subscriptions, which continued to decrease, contracting by 4.73% from one-million in 2023 to 954 952 in 2024. This is compared with 2.70-million in 2019 and 1.83-million in 2020.

The ongoing digital transformation and the rising demand for mobile connectivity in the country has resulted in a 7.46% increase in mobile cellular subscriptions to 116.81-million in 2024, with prepaid accounting for 97.51-million and postpaid for 19.31-million.

The State of ICT report further revealed that mobile cellular active subscriptions increased 3.90% to 94.08-million, while mobile cellular data users increased 1.52% to 42.31-million in 2024.

Alongside this, smartphone subscriptions rose by 10.36% to 82.74-million.

In 2024, the telecommunications sector achieved an 11.7% increase in revenue from R208.29-billion in 2023 to R232.67-billion in 2024.

This was mostly driven by a 10.21% increase in mobile services revenue to R132.38-billion and a 16.16% increase in any other revenue to R61.46-billion.

Icasa further found that fixed Internet and data revenue increased 14.62% to R34.97-billion, indicating a growing demand for broadband services and driven by a significant increase in fixed Internet revenue to R10.77-billion.

Social media continues to play a pivotal role in driving user engagement and revenue generation for operators, with R159.3-billion in revenue generated from customers using their services to access social media platforms.

Facebook accounted for R58.9-billion, followed closely by WhatsApp at R49.2-billion and TikTok at R38.9-billion.

Meanwhile, improvements in network coverage are laying the groundwork for continued growth, Icasa commented in its report.

National 3G population coverage stood at 99.79% in 2024, while 4G/LTE coverage continued to grow steadily, with coverage of 99.07%

National 5G population coverage reached 46.64% in 2024, increasing from 35.42% in 2023 and just 0.70% in 2020, as the deployment and significant investment of the next generation technology continues.

However, there remain several remote and underserved areas where Internet access is still unavailable.

Meanwhile, Icasa reported that, in 2024, overall telecommunications investment declined 20.63% to R29.08-billion. The yearly investment specifically allocated to mobile communication services saw a substantial increase of 22.98% to R17.74-billion, while expansion investment grew from R1.65-billion to R3.32-billion. However, infrastructure investment dropped from R7.59-billion to R3.19-billion.

The authority also highlighted the significant financial losses of R283-million the telecommunications operators experienced owing to ongoing theft and vandalism, which disrupted service delivery and increased operational challenges.

Theft resulted in financial loses of R69.59-million, while vandalism cost operators R213.83-million in 2024.

“The ongoing threat of infrastructure damage not only disrupted services but also hindered investments and development efforts within the industry, creating a pervasive atmosphere of insecurity that affected both consumers and businesses reliant on stable telecommunications networks,” Icasa said, noting that enhanced security measures are essential to mitigate future risks, ensuring network reliability and effectively supporting sustainable growth in an increasingly digital economy.

As loadshedding eased during 2024, the spending by operators on generators and batteries in the telecommunications sector decreased.

Battery expenditure dropped from R2.59-billion to R173.75-million, and generator spending declined from R930.21-million to R211.47-million. Similarly, the number of batteries purchased fell from 150 415 to 44 708 units and generators from 3 268 to 855.

Icasa pointed to measures undertaken to mitigate loadshedding that had resulted in a dramatic reduction in expenditure on backup power solutions.

“These improvements align with [State-owned power utility] Eskom’s initiatives to address loadshedding, leading to enhanced resilience and overall lower operating expenses, remarkably demonstrating clear sector-wide financial relief. This strategic initiative has not only alleviated the need for costly backup power solutions but also enhanced operational efficiency across the industry.”