May the Wi-Fi be with you

When we analysed the ISP market a year ago, we showed how the work-from-home trend during the pandemic accelerated the need for fast, reliable internet. Unsurprisingly, median monthly spend spiked in 2021 and remains substantially higher than pre-Covid levels.

We thought it would be worthwhile to have another look at this competitive industry and see if any new trends have emerged.

The first insight might be a no-brainer: consumers tend to stick with one ISP for all their home internet needs. In other words, they don’t shop around and cherry-pick products from different service providers. Only 10% of 22seven users engage with more than one ISP each month.

When it comes to monthly spend, Cool Ideas leads the pack as it did last year, with a similar median amount per user. Likewise, wireless-only Rain still attracts the lowest monthly spend. There has been a fair amount of movement among the mid-pack ISPs, however – we’ve masked those results to be fair to subscribers.

Next, we segmented spending by income bracket and discovered that some ISPs demonstrate consistent spending across all income brackets, whereas others exhibit intriguing variations.

Take Afrihost and Rain, for example. Afrihost customers in the highest income group spend 2.7x more per month than those in the lowest group. Rain, on the other hand, has a consistent median monthly spend across all income groups, with only a R20 discrepancy between highest and lowest. This reflects Afrihost’s vast array of fibre and wireless product options, at various price points, and Rain’s comparatively limited suite of wireless products.

Our home internet research is yet another example of our ability to analyse niche areas of consumer spending, even when private companies are involved. If you want to find out more about the other ISPs featured, or if you’d like to gain a comprehensive understanding of any other sector of consumer spending, get in touch.