BRICS Broadband: How Is SA Faring Against its Peers?

Fixed broadband speeds in South Africa doubled over the past three years – from 15.11 Mbps median download speed in Q1-Q2 2020 to 31.34 Mbps in Q1-Q2 2022, benefiting from increased competition and growth in Fibre to the Home subscriptions, a report by speed test service Ookla revealed on Tuesday.

China topped the rankings across the BRICS countries, posting a median download speed of nearly 160 Mbps.

South Africa, meanwhile, finished last, indicating that South Africa still has room to grow in terms of fixed broadband performance and adoption.

Ookla said Gauteng, home to the country’s largest city, Johannesburg, had the best median fixed broadband download speeds of 38.47 Mbps and 27.92 Mbps upload speeds.

South Africa’s capital city, Johannesburg, was the fastest of the five cities we analysed.

In July 2022, Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index ranked South Africa in 95th place, with a median broadband download speed of 35.90 Mbps and a median upload speed of 29.56 Mbps.

“South Africa has come a long way in the past four years in terms of fixed network performance. In July 2019, for instance, South Africa ranked 112th with fixed median download and upload speeds of 9.95 Mbps and 5.56 Mbps, respectively,” said Ookla.

There is still room to grow for South Africa to catch up with other BRICS markets

Using Speedtest Intelligence data, Ookla said it compared fixed download speeds across the BRICS countries, which include five major emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa during Q1-Q2 2022.

China topped the rankings across the BRICS countries, posting a median download speed of nearly 160 Mbps.

“South Africa, meanwhile, finished last, indicating that South Africa still has room to grow in terms of fixed broadband performance and adoption.”

India has already taken steps to improve fixed broadband performance by setting minimum broadband speeds.

“We have commented how TRAI, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, published several recommendations designed to increase fixed broadband network rollouts and adoption,” explains Ookla.

“The recommendations also aim to help achieve India’s targets of universal broadband provision of 50 Mbps, as well as breaking into the top-50 of the ITU’s ICT Development Index by 2022.”

Ookla said South Africa could also look to Chile for inspiration to improve its fixed broadband performance.

Currently, Chile tops the ranking in terms of global fixed broadband performance, with a fixed median download speed of 213.73 Mbps.

“While it took time, Chile’s healthy fixed broadband performance is due to a mix of a supportive regulatory environment and robust market competition. According to Chilean regulator Subtel, 83% of fixed broadband connections comprise speeds of 100 Mbps thanks to a growing penetration of fiber to the home (FFTH).”