South Africa vs Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income): Fixed line and mobile cellular subscriptions
Fixed line and mobile cellular subscriptions over time
- South Africa
- Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)
How they compare
South Africa currently reports 134.67 per 100 people against 55.32 per 100 people in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income), a difference of 79.35 per 100 people.
That makes South Africa's figure about 2.4 times Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)'s.
Across all 39 years both countries report, South Africa has been ahead every year.
South Africa ranks 4th and Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) ranks 4th of 53 countries.
South Africa has averaged higher in every one of the 6 decades both report.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | South Africa | Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 3.74 per 100 people | 0.5078 per 100 people | 3.23 per 100 people | South Africa |
| 1970s | 4.94 per 100 people | 0.7365 per 100 people | 4.21 per 100 people | South Africa |
| 1980s | 7.37 per 100 people | 0.8318 per 100 people | 6.54 per 100 people | South Africa |
| 1990s | 13.43 per 100 people | 1.38 per 100 people | 12.06 per 100 people | South Africa |
| 2000s | 68.41 per 100 people | 15.98 per 100 people | 52.42 per 100 people | South Africa |
| 2010s | 121.94 per 100 people | 51.28 per 100 people | 70.67 per 100 people | South Africa |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher fixed line and mobile cellular subscriptions, South Africa or Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
- South Africa, at 134.67 per 100 people against 55.32 per 100 people in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) as of 2011.
- What is the difference in fixed line and mobile cellular subscriptions between South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
- 79.35 per 100 people, with South Africa ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income)?
- 39 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2011.
- How do South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) rank globally for fixed line and mobile cellular subscriptions?
- South Africa ranks 4th and Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding high income) ranks 4th of 53 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- International Telecommunication Union, World Telecommunication/ICT Development Report and database, published as Fixed line and mobile cellular subscriptions (per 100 people). Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Fixed line and mobile cellular subscriptions are total telephone subscriptions (fixed line plus mobile). Fixed telephone subscriptions refers to the sum of active number of analogue fixed telephone lines, voice-over-IP (VoIP) subscriptions, fixed wireless local loop (WLL) subscriptions, ISDN voice-channel equivalents and fixed public payphones. Mobile cellular telephone subscriptions are subscriptions to a public mobile telephone service that provide access to the PSTN using cellular technology. The indicator includes (and is split into) the number of postpaid subscriptions, and the number of active prepaid accounts (i.e. that have been used during the last three months). The indicator applies to all mobile cellular subscriptions that offer voice communications. It excludes subscriptions via data cards or USB modems, subscriptions to public mobile data services, private trunked mobile radio, telepoint, radio paging and telemetry services.