South Africa Pays More for Data Than 27 Other African Countries, New Report Finds

17 February 2026
Scrolla (Johannesburg)
By Dylan Bettencourt
  • StatRanker data puts the average price of 1GB of mobile data in South Africa at R20.50 in 2025.
  • Communications Minister Solly Malatsi told Parliament that data prices have fallen sharply over the past five years due to competition and government intervention.

South Africa ranks 67th out of 100 countries with the cheapest mobile data in the world. That is according to new data from StatRanker, which tracked global data prices in 2025.

27 other African nations still offer better prices than South Africa. The global average sits at R31.81 per gigabyte. South Africa's average is R20.50 per gigabyte.

The cheapest data in the world is in Iran, where 1GB costs R1.59. The most expensive is in the Cayman Islands, at R266.89 per gigabyte.

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Communications Minister Solly Malatsi has been pushing for lower prices since he took office in July 2024. He told Parliament that prices have fallen sharply over the past five years, driven by more competition and government intervention.

Malatsi said the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) licensed spectrum in 2022 to bring down broadband costs and reduce retail prices.

"However, operators required time to integrate and monetise their spectrum allocations before the benefits were realised," he said.

Icasa has seen a downward trend in broadband costs but has not yet measured the full impact of the 2022 spectrum auction.

The numbers show some progress. For prepaid customers, 1GB dropped from R100 in 2020 to R79 in 2025. For postpaid customers, 5GB came down from R199 in 2020 to R99 in 2025.

StatRanker based its findings on the International Telecommunication Union's ICT price brackets for 2025.

Read the original article on Scrolla.

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