The rapid adoption of Internet connection is swiftly changing the structures of economies worldwide – including South Africa’s, information and communication technology giant Ericsson South Africa MD Magnus Mchunguzi said.

As more and more South Africans move towards an increasingly connected life, with fast and reliable Internet connection now a necessity for most people, the connectivity was “killing off” the traditional structures of the economy.

Following the release of Ericsson’s latest ConsumerLab report, ‘Internet Goes Mobile’, Mchunguzi said consumers were increasingly cutting out the “middle man” in the provision of services and becoming more self-sufficient through the use of the Internet.

Consumers were banking online or through mobile applications and mobile money services, leaving banks to adapt and create a different environment to offset the declining requirement for bank structures.

Further, Mchunguzi pointed to newspapers and magazines shifting to an online platform, with bookstores becoming more of a concept store as consumers adopt electronic readers and buy and read electronic books.

Consumers were also side-stepping travel agents and call centres as they made their own arrangements online, with online peer-to-peer interactions increasingly influencing consumer choice of restaurants and hotels, besides others.

Online shopping, social media, television streaming and instant messaging were all becoming a necessity for South Africans as they condensed the physical world into a virtual software-based reality, Mchunguzi told Engineering News Online.

The ‘Internet Goes Mobile’ report, which outlined consumer behaviour in South Africa regarding Internet access and comprehensive connectivity, showed that constant online interaction was fast becoming a part of life for most people.

South Africans show a high need for connectedness on their mobile devices, with 61% of consumers wanting to remain connected online with other Internet users, even when they were socialising with friends and family.

“The ability to access relevant information at any given time and place has become integral to consumers worldwide and South Africa is no different, with its growing economy and population that is eager to explore new ways of doing business,” the report pointed out.

Mchunguzi added that, with the whole online ecosystem now reaching South Africa, its citizens, like their global counterparts, were fast becoming addicted to online access and had an inclination to adopt the latest devices and lead a completely connected lifestyle.

The “pursuit of this lifestyle” demanded reliable and fast Internet access on multiple devices, with more than half of the consumers often interchanging between fixed-broadband, WiFi and mobile broadband connections to gain better speed, reliability and coverage.

“It’s no longer [only] about price,” he said, pointing out that only 44% of those surveyed had switched Internet connections owing to the cost of data.

The study also showed that 52% of South African Internet users coveted multiscreen use, 47% connected homes and 42% connected cars.

“This interest in leading a more connected life demonstrates the desire of South Africans to stay on the cutting-edge of technological advancements,” the report concluded.