Nearly 94% of South African households now rely on cellphones alone

Nearly 94% of South African households now have cellphones but no landline, confirming how completely mobile connections have replaced fixed-line phones in everyday life.

Statistics South Africaâ€s General Household Survey for 2025 records 93.8% of households in the cellphone-only category. A further 2.5% had both a cellphone and a landline, while just 0.1% relied only on a landline.

The share of households without either type of phone fell to 3.7%, equivalent to roughly 740,000 homes, according to an analysis by GroundUp and The Outlier.

The long-term shift is stark. In 2002, about 55% of households had no telephone at home and only one in five had a cellphone without a landline. Prepaid services and mobile networks subsequently expanded into communities that fixed copper connections did not reach or were too expensive to maintain.

A phone is not the same as affordable internet

The household telephone figures should not be read as universal smartphone or internet access. Stats SAâ€s 2025 survey found that 85.6% of households had access to the internet somewhere, while 78.9% could connect using mobile devices.

Only 20.6% had fixed internet at home. Access also differed sharply between provinces: internet access through any means was 93.8% in the Western Cape and 88.5% in Gauteng, but 74.5% in the Eastern Cape and 74.7% in the Northern Cape.

That gap matters because government services, job applications, banking, school communication and grant administration increasingly assume that users can get online. A household may own a basic phone but still face expensive data, weak signal, electricity interruptions or a device that cannot comfortably handle documents and digital forms.

Landlines have almost disappeared

South Africa once used Telkomâ€s copper network as the main route for household voice services. Fixed lines declined as prepaid mobile products became cheaper and easier to install, while cable theft and maintenance costs made the old network less reliable.

The 2026 State of the ICT Sector report from the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa showed the same direction in the previous yearâ€s data: 92.8% of households were cellphone-only in 2024, compared with 91.2% in 2023. The latest Stats SA figure indicates that the trend continued in 2025.

Cellphones have opened access to emergency communication, mobile money and information for millions of people. They have also concentrated essential services on devices that can be lost, stolen or disconnected when a household cannot afford airtime or data.

The remaining 3.7% without a household phone is therefore a small share but a significant public-service problem. Agencies moving services online still need working call centres, assisted channels and in-person options for residents who are offline or have limited devices.

South Africaâ€s mobile revolution is close to universal in hardware terms. The next test is whether every household can use that connection reliably, safely and affordably.