He added that most of the growth came from small and medium enterprises upgrading to ADSL. "This in turn extended internet accesss to more than half a million South Africans working in small offices, who did not previously have access."

The study made a number of interesting findings, including that cell phone access to the internet had passed dial up for the first time and proposed that the access of the internet by the academic community and by cellular users will be a major market driver of internet user growth over the next five years.

Goldstuck said the study also looked at the impact of the new undersea cables off South Africa's coast which are expected to increase broadband substantially. "If all current cable projects from to fruition, by 2011, the total capacity of undersea cables connecting Africa to the rest of the world will have increased 150 fold over 2008," according to the BusinessDay.

Goldstuck said the Internet boom SA was experiencing would see the present 5.3 million users growing steadily, aided by broadband accessibility and the new generation of users. He believes it takes about five years for an Internet user to become truly comfortable with the Internet, and that SA will only really see the boom by 2015.

The study found that fixed line ADSL was being left behind by wireless broadband access, with an 88% growth in wireless subscribers in the last year while only 15% of fixed lines become ADSL lines. Goldstuck said while ADSL offers a superior experience of the Internet the competition among Wireless providers and the lack of competition with regard to ADSL - with only one provider Telkom in that market - has seen it grow faster. "ADSL and 3 G Wireless were level in 2008, but by 2009 we could already see ADSL being left behind. Unfortunately ADSL is linked to fixed lines and we have seen a steady decline when it comes to fixed line applications."