(Facebook, Telkom)
(Facebook, Telkom)
  • A Cape Town-based architect compared how long people around the world have to work to afford one gigabyte of mobile data, based on minimum wages. 
  • He found that South Africans have to work an average of 5.4 hours per GB - which is less than in Greece and China. 
  • In Monaco, however, people only have to work 0.10 hours to afford one gig of data. 
  • For more stories, go to Business Insider SA.

If they are earning the minimum wage, South Africans have to work 5.4 hours to earn one gigabyte of mobile data, while Cubans have to work 251.6 hours – and the British just 0.6 hours.

Capetonian architect and masters of business graduate Wynand Viljoen recently compared the data prices of countries around the world with their minimum wages to see how long people have to work to buy one gigabyte. 

(supplied, Wynand Viljoen)
(supplied, Wynand Viljoen)

He found that in Cuba, people need to work the longest to afford 1 GB data. 

A person will be required to work roughly 251.6 hours to afford 1GB data which costs $12,58 in Cuba, Viljoen found. 

Meanwhile, in Monaco, people have to work the least to afford 1 GB data. 

The local minimum wage is €10.53 per hour in Monaco, or roughly R169.58 an hour, which means people just have to work 6 minutes to buy one GB data, which costs $1.21. 

A snapshot of a region of how long it people need
A snapshot of a region of how long it people need to work to afford one GB data (supplied, Wynand Viljoen)

On South Africa’s minimum wage of R20 per hour, where the average GB costs $7.19, or roughly R110.72, people need to work 5.4 hours to afford it. 

That is less than in countries such as Greece, China, Ghana, and Mauritius – but more than in Zambia, Pakistan, Brazil, and Morocco. 

(supplied, Wynand Viljoen)
(supplied, Wynand Viljoen)


Viljoen compiled the information from data prices and minimum wage data publicly available.