Johannesburg — THE number of South Africans accessing the internet via broadband connections has increased by more than 50% in the past year, says a new survey.

The Internet Access in SA 2010 study, conducted by World Wide Worx and Cisco, found that wireless broadband has grown nearly four times as fast as fixed- line broadband in SA.

The study revealed that most of the growth in fixed-line broadband comes from small and medium enterprises (SMEs) upgrading from dial-up to ADSL. This in turn has extended internet access to more than half-a-million South Africans working in small offices, who did not previously have access.

According to World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck, who presented the findings in Johannesburg yesterday, more people are now accessing the internet from SMEs than from corporate networks.

"The more connected the working population is, the better SME s can compete in terms of market presence with corporates. We are already seeing more SMEs with internet sites," he said.

The study found that broadband subscriptions had grown by 88% in the past year, against 21% for ADSL, which Goldstuck said was an indication of a trend that has been evident since 2008.

He said while ADSL offered a superior experience of the internet, the competition among wireless providers and the lack of competition with regard to ADSL - with only one provider, Telkom - had seen wireless grow faster.

The study made a number of interesting findings, including that cellphone access to the internet had passed dial-up for the first time in SA's internet history, and that the academic and cellphone communities provided huge opportunities for future growth in the next five years.

Goldstuck said the study also looked at the effect of the new undersea cables off SA 's coast, which are expected to increase broadband substantially.

The combination of new undersea cables and terrestrial fibreoptic networks means we are seeing the emergence of the next generation of connectivity technology, both in fixed-line and wireless services.

"The missing ingredients now are the next generation of customer access equipment for those who are connected, and affordable availability of access for those who are not," he said.