IDA total vs South Africa: Mobile cellular subscriptions
Mobile cellular subscriptions over time
- IDA total
- South Africa
How they compare
IDA total currently reports 1.73 billion against 114.79 million in South Africa, a difference of 1.62 billion.
That makes IDA total's figure about 15.1 times South Africa's.
The two have swapped places 3 times across 53 shared years of data; in 1960 it was South Africa ahead.
IDA total ranks 14th and South Africa ranks 16th of 47 groups.
Across the 7 decades both report, IDA total averaged higher in 3 and South Africa in 2.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | IDA total | South Africa | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1970s | 0 | 0 | 0 | — |
| 1980s | 0 | 398 | 398 | South Africa |
| 1990s | 440,543 | 1.23 million | 784,886 | South Africa |
| 2000s | 158.41 million | 27.79 million | 130.62 million | IDA total |
| 2010s | 1.04 billion | 78.72 million | 963.03 million | IDA total |
| 2020s | 1.60 billion | 103.95 million | 1.50 billion | IDA total |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher mobile cellular subscriptions, IDA total or South Africa?
- IDA total, at 1.73 billion against 114.79 million in South Africa as of 2025.
- What is the difference in mobile cellular subscriptions between IDA total and South Africa?
- 1.62 billion, with IDA total ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for IDA total and South Africa?
- 53 years are reported by both, from 1960 to 2024.
- How do IDA total and South Africa rank globally for mobile cellular subscriptions?
- IDA total ranks 14th and South Africa ranks 16th of 47 groups.
- 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
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.