Egypt vs South Africa: Mobile cellular subscriptions

Egypt
113.19 million
in 2024
South Africa
114.79 million
in 2024
Egypt rank
17th
South Africa rank
16th

Mobile cellular subscriptions over time

  • Egypt
  • South Africa
025.0M50.0M75.0M100.0M125.0M196019922024

How they compare

South Africa currently reports 114.79 million against 113.19 million in Egypt, a difference of 1.59 million.

The two have swapped places 6 times across 53 shared years of data; in 1960 it was South Africa ahead.

Egypt ranks 17th and South Africa ranks 16th of 212 countries.

Across the 7 decades both report, Egypt averaged higher in 2 and South Africa in 3.

Head to head by decade

Decade Egypt South Africa Difference Ahead
1960s 0 0 0
1970s 0 0 0
1980s 926.7 398 528.7 Egypt
1990s 67,954 1.23 million 1.16 million South Africa
2000s 18.05 million 27.79 million 9.74 million South Africa
2010s 92.98 million 78.72 million 14.26 million Egypt
2020s 102.06 million 103.95 million 1.89 million South Africa

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher mobile cellular subscriptions, Egypt or South Africa?
South Africa, at 114.79 million against 113.19 million in Egypt as of 2024.
What is the difference in mobile cellular subscriptions between Egypt and South Africa?
1.59 million, with South Africa ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Egypt and South Africa?
53 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2024.
How do Egypt and South Africa rank globally for mobile cellular subscriptions?
Egypt ranks 17th and South Africa ranks 16th of 212 countries.
Where does this data come from?
World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU), published as Mobile cellular subscriptions. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Mobile cellular subscriptions
Source
World Telecommunication/ICT Indicators Database, International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (World Bank Open Data)
Coverage
260 places, 13,039 data points, 1960–2025
Last refreshed

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.