By Matthew Campbell – Some of the world’s greatest technological developments have been brought on as a result of the Internet.
For those of us working from home, the Internet has enabled us to stay safe and keep our jobs during a pandemic! And, let’s be honest, some of what the Internet brings us is just plain fun – imagine a world without cat videos, memes, or viral recipes that you’re never going to try, but are still incredible to watch.
In celebration of the wonderful world of all things online, here are some Internet-related facts and milestones that have helped shape connectivity across our country, our continent, and our planet.
- In 1974, the term ‘internet’ was first used as a shortened term for ‘internetworking’. At the time, there were several internets, as they referred to collections of linked networks.
- ‘The’ Internet emerged in 1989, when Tim Berners-Lee wrote the code for the first web browser, called WorldWideWeb, along with the standards for HTML, HTTP, and URLs. The world also saw its first Internet service providers (ISPs) starting at the same time. In the USA, the first commercial dial-up Internet provider, called ‘The World’, was started in 1989.
- Rhodes University received the first South African IP address in 1988.
- In 1990, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers granted South Africa the country code top-level domain .za.
- South Africa’s Internet user base grew from 2.4 million in 2000, to 5 million in 2008, to 12.3 million in 2012. In January 2021, this number increased to 13 million, or close to 60% of the population. By contrast, Africa’s average Internet penetration is just under 40%.
- Africa’s first broadband submarine cable system was launched by Seacom in 2009. The 17000-kilometre submarine cable connects African countries like South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, Djibouti, and more, to the wonders of the Internet.
- In 2017, China had 765 million people connected to the Internet, and in India, 391 million people were using the Internet. This means that Asia accounts for almost half of the world’s active Internet users!
- When it comes to South Africa, Gauteng is the province with the most access to the Internet with 72,2% of the population connected, while Limpopo is the province with the least number of people who access the Internet, with 42,4% connected.
- The average fixed broadband download speed in South Africa in May 2021 was 46 Mbps. This is an impressive 35% increase from our average download speed of 34 Mbps just a year earlier in May 2020! As fibre infrastructure and capacity improve, this number is expected to keep climbing.
- The most popular website in the world is… you guessed it, Google. Facebook is the world’s favourite social media platform, with 2.8 billion monthly active users.
One of the best things about the Internet is that it’s growing and changing every day, connecting even more corners of the globe with one another. Who knows what these numbers will look like in six months’ time, or what wonders the Internet will bring us in the next few years.
Matthew Campbell is the head of SME and FTTH at Seacom