SOUTH AFRICA: INTERNET 2% OF GDP

By World Wide Worx published on May 29, 2012.

The contribution of the internet to the South African economy has not been measured until recently, it has been found that the internet already stands at 2% of the South African GDP and is an important enabling tool for businesses. Given that agriculture stands at 2.2% of GDP, this percentage is quite significant.

The largest contributor of investments to infrastructures are surprisingly enough, not by service providers. Though the mobile networks and fibre providers have certainly spent their fair share on infrastructure – a total of R13.5-billion – this pales beside the R29.2-billion spent on Internet presence and access.

The study further indicates that e-commerce is growing at a rate of around 30% a year, and is showing no signs of slowing down. In fact, taking into account the fact that a number of major consumer brands and chains have not yet devised comprehensive online retail strategies, the scope for future growth is even greater.