More and more South Africans are taking to the Internet, and in the past year the market has seen a dramatic shift from dial-up connections to broadband.
The growth rate in local Internet users is now 4,5-million.
This is the finding of the Internet Access in South Africa 2008 study, released by research company World Wide Worx. The study was backed by Cisco Systems.
The market has also seen a shift from dial-up to broadband, with growth in both ADSL and 3G usage
"The increase comes on the eve of the biggest shake-up in South African Internet access we've seen since the dawn of the commercial Internet in 1994," said Arthur Goldstuck, managing director of World Wide Worx.
"It is only the beginning of a dramatic turnaround, and is occurring despite numerous obstacles in the way of growth."
Among the obstacles has been a restrictive regulatory environment, with Minister of Communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri deciding only late in the year not to oppose a court ruling that would allow all network operators to supply their own infrastructure.
Goldstuck described the minister's decision as a pivotal moment, but one that should have occurred four years ago.
"The market has been anticipating this change, and numerous small, semi-legal networks have sprung up around the country in the past year.
"Many of these should emerge above the radar with their new licences, along with new entrants into the market."
Reshaad Ahmed, senior manager of Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group, said the evolution and changes could not have come at a better time.
"We believe these changes will lead to sufficient competition, increase access to Internet usage and, in turn, increase global competitiveness and economic diversity."
The Seacom undersea cable, commissioned mainly by Neotel, will increase South Africa's international bandwidth 40-fold, and will mark the beginning of what World Wide Worx describes as a seismic shift in the Internet landscape in Africa.
But it is only one of a series of new cables in the works, which will make the connectivity landscape completely unrecognisable for both South Africa and the rest of the continent by 2013.