In more than a quarter of SA homes, at least one person has access to the Internet. That’s a finding of Statistics SA’s latest annual general household survey.

According to StatsSA, 26,8% of homes had at least one person that accessed the Internet either from home, at work, university, school or an Internet café.

A provincial breakdown of the survey shows residents of the Western Cape have the highest access to Internet services, topping the list with 44,1%. Gauteng comes a close second with 40,9% access.

The figures in the other provinces are not as promising, with the Free State the next highest at only 27,5%.

According to the survey, 16,7% of household members use the Internet at work, with fewer using it at home and the least at school or university.

The survey also delves into landline and cellular telephony, with some homes still without access to either cellphones or fixed lines. The province with the highest rate of no access is the Northern Cape, where 22,8% of homes have no access to telephony.

The Eastern Cape, Free State and North West follow closely behind.

Residents of Mpumalanga and Limpopo have taken to cellular technology as their primary means of communication, with about 85,2% and 85,5% penetration respectively using only cellphones and not landlines.

The use of a combination of both cellphones and landlines in households is most prevalent in the more affluent provinces, such as the Western Cape, at 34,3%, and Gauteng, at 22,6%. — Staff reporter, TechCentral