Internet access price hikes worry the Competition Commission. (Graphic: Nicola Mawson | GenAI and Competition Commission)
While internet connectivity, which the Competition Commission considers an essential service, has become more expensive, the increase pales in comparison with the surge in transport costs.
Increases of 4.1% for wireless and 3.5% for wired internet services rising at a faster pace than headline inflation is a worry for the Competition Commission, it says in its latest Cost of Living report. “This is concerning given the importance of internet services to the economy.”
Headline inflation increased at 3.8% on a cumulative basis in the first half of the year, the report shows. Headline inflation encompasses all Statistics South Africa’s basket items measured over the period.
For comparison, headline inflation moved up 1.5 percentage points over the period between January and June, from 3.5% to 5% in June and coming in below expectations at 4.3% in July.
Over six years between January 2020 and July 2026, both wired (18.6%) and wireless internet (6.4%) costs increased by less than headline inflation, which was 36%. However, the commission notes that the recent trend is concerning.
The Competition Commission says internet service inflation remained relatively stable for most of 2025, but prices began rising in April and May this year.
In the report, the anti-trust authority attributes the increases to price hikes by several major operators, some of which cited inflation, exchange-rate pressures and power outages as contributing factors.
“Internet connectivity has become an essential service for households, underpinning participation in the modern economy and enabling access to employment, education, healthcare, financial services and government programmes,” the Cost of Living report states.
Yet other indicators increased far more dramatically. Petrol inflation surged 26% in the first half of the year, minibus taxi fares increased 13%, and the cost of bond repayments rose 9.6% over the same period.
Other household costs have also risen more sharply than internet services, although the periods measured differ given that Statistics South Africa does not measure every item in each month.
Between January 2020 and July 2026, wired and wireless internet costs increased by less than inflation. (Image created by GenAI)
Electricity tariffs increased 8.1% between July 2025 and July 2026, while water prices rose 10.1%. “Increases in electricity and water tariffs have an immediate and unavoidable impact on household expenditure,” says the commission.
These increases are largely due to ageing infrastructure and the cost of operating, maintaining, rehabilitating and expanding electricity and water networks, says the Competition Commission. Statistics South Africa surveys municipal charges annually in July, which is when they generally are adjusted.
Public primary school fees, measured in March each year based on the timing of annual changes, gained 6% between 2025 and 2026, with secondary school fees rising 5.7%.
“The cumulative effect of sustained price increases across essential goods and services has significantly eroded purchasing power, leaving households to contend with a persistently higher cost of meeting basic needs,” the report adds.
The fifth annual DebtBusters Money-Stress Tracker, conducted in May and June 2026, shows that relative financial stress stability recorded in 2025 has given way to renewed financial pressures, “driven primarily by a mounting cost-of-living crisis”.
DebtBusters notes that “rising costs emerged as primary drivers of financial anxiety in 2026, especially for lower-income and younger cohorts. The top short-term worries remain running out of money before month-end and struggling with monthly debt payments.”
More than half of the 18 000 respondents surveyed are spending over 40% of their take-home pay on debt repayments. Separately, an analysis of debt counselling applications in its August Debt Index shows that consumers earning more than R50 000 a month needed 103% of their income to meet their debt repayments.
