Six million South Africans on mobile web

The study excluded 'deep rural' mobile users and represents around 20 million South Africans aged 16 and above.

Mobile services with most traction

The two mobile services with the most traction among South Africans aged 16 and above are MXit (with 24% of that audience) and Facebook (with 22%), while Twitter is gathering speed, thanks to a major push by media personalities such as Gareth Cliff and others.

Using email via mobile devices is also increasing in popularity, with 27% of the mobile population using it in urban areas while rural use went from near zero to a 12% penetration level. World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck says this indicates that "mobile email [is] becoming a mainstream tool across the population."

Cameras, diaries and games, FM radio and music players are the most popular features on mobile phones, with 75% of urban and 55% of rural users making use their phone cameras, 53% of urban and 36% of rural users using their music players, and 65% of rural and 54% of urban users playing games on their phones.

Cellphone banking also booming

Cellphone banking is also booming, with 44% of urban cellphone users now use cellphone banking services (up from 27%) while in rural figures this number stands at 27%. "In total, 37% of South Africans in urban and rural areas aged 16 and above now use cellphone banking," the report finds.

FNB, which sponsored the research, says its mobile client base currently stands at 2.6 million. The researchers found that cellphone banking usage peaks in the 26-34 age group, at 41%, and drops to 11% in the over-45 group. A high proportion of cellphone banking users (27%) earn less than a R1000 a month.

Half of respondents used mobile banking to buy airtime, 24% to pay accounts and 17% to transfer funds between accounts; 12% transferred money to other individuals and 11% had made a purchase via their cellphone. The most popular online banking services remain balance enquiries (78%) and notifications (58%).