South Africans in Cape Town and Johannesburg Pay Much More For Internet Usage Than New Yorkers (qz.com)

South Africa may have some of the world's cheapest cities to live in, but using the internet in Cape Town and Johannesburg is surprisingly expensive by global standards. From a report: South Africans living in the country's two major cities spend more on their monthly internet costs than people living in New York, Tokyo, and even the perennially expensive Zurich, according to a report by Deutsche Bank. When comparing life in the global financial capitals, most other things, from rent to the cost of a cappuccino, were far cheaper in Johannesburg and Cape Town, making the cost of getting online even more of a shock to the pocket. Out of 50 cities surveyed, Joburgers spent the second most on monthly internet, beaten only by oil-rich Dubai. The amount shelled out by Capetonians ranked seventh behind Dublin, San Francisco, and Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand, according to the report, which compared daily prices and living standards of cities around the world.

Comments

That's not saying much!

[b0s0z0ku]

Internet in NYC is cheap, like $42/mo for an unbundled 100mb Verizon connection. Many other parts of the US pay much more, or require bundling with cable/phone, for the same service.

Unsurprising

[ebrandsberg]

Switzerland has a 90% penetration rate of internet users, while South Africa has a 50% rate. Next, South Africa is connected to the rest of the world by relatively expensive internet connections on a per-user basis due to the position in the globe and usage. This results in a higher cost per user when actual expenses are accounted for as compared with a location like NYC or Zurich. This is simple economics.

Re:Unsurprising

[Anonymous Coward]

That's completely ignoring the fact that Internet access has been monopolised by the government-run telecommunications company Telkom for decades, and they've been milking people hard for all that time. Thankfully the introduction of fibre internet has seen a massive decrease in costs, since finally different providers are being allowed - I'm now getting 40Mbps fibre for the same price I was paying for 4Mbps copper - but it's still far from cheap.

We found it!

[burtosis]

A single place where internet costs more than the USA for comparable service does little to help the fact the three American cities on the list are among the most expensive. Americans pay far more for slower internet than the vast majority of the world. The repeal of net neutrality just made overall costs worse, expect to pay even more for services in the future as companies take fast lane fees and pass them back to consumers.

Want to know the real reason?

[slashmydots]

This is going to sound impolite but it's because their government has absolutely no experience governing and has no idea what they're doing. They can't stop crime, inflation, grow food, or do basically anything. It's a complete free for all over there.

Re:Want to know the real reason?

[Gavagai80]

It's not lack of experience, it's too much experience. It's a one party state for the last 24 years, and that's long enough to corrupt any party into outright looting.

South African pays more For Internet than New York

[najajomo]

Reason being that as part of the deal to allowing Mandela into power, the ANC had to 'liberalize' the South African telecom market. Basically sell it off at bargain basement prices to foreign 'investors', who operate an effective monopoly. For example, the UK company Vodafone and 'Thintana Communications' out of Texas.

Re:Reasons Why?

[Gavagai80]

Dublin is on an island. The ocean seems like a pretty big geographic barrier, doesn't it?

Re:Reasons Why?

[AHuxley]

History. South Africa had a set of different needs when building its communications networks over decades.
The POTS network had to be able to call for police, ambulance, fire service.
Let people make voice calls. Track people making calls quickly. Allow for rapid tracking of the location a call was made given data on one or both phone numbers used. The need for voice prints. The need to find any new voice conversation using a set of spoken words.
The BOSS/National Intelligence Service, Silvermine years.
South Africa was at war so its telco networks had to be robust and ready to connect but also ready to collect information.
After the 1990's political changes the internet was the product to connect up to an existing POTS network.
The politics of giving more people just POTS? Digital networks? New digital networks for everyone? New wireless?
Budget and how to use new internet technology became political. Who got an advance new network, why and when in any given part of South Africa was political.