Public TikTok
TikTok’s ad reach was 29.1 million, 64.8% of adults, in DataReportal’s 2026 figures. Look at public profiles, sounds and search as a South African phone sees them, logged out.
South Africa mobile proxies for a country that goes online by phone
In a sample of 12 mobile exits through our gateway on 26 October 2026, MTN supplied 6, Telkom 4 and Cell C 2. Mobile traffic costs $3.99 → $2.19 per GB, $0.50 above residential at each tier. Use -cc-za for the country and a session key to hold one exit for up to 6 hours.
Homes online by phone60.5%
Households that went online mainly through a cellphone in the 2022 census (Stats SA).
Prepaid82%
96.5 million of the 117.3 million mobile subscriptions ICASA counted on 30 September 2025.
5G coverage58.0%
Share of the population inside 5G coverage in 2025, per ICASA, against 46.6% a year earlier.
IPv6 per carrier0.1%
APNIC Labs, October 2026, for Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, Cell C and rain alike: the exits are IPv4.
A South African quirk
Prepaid SIMs, each one registered to a name
ICASA counted 117.3 million mobile subscriptions on 30 September 2025, and 96.5 million were prepaid. Postpaid grew 7.7% in the year, to 20.8 million. ICASA notes that some operators count every SIM not disconnected within 90 days, so the prepaid total may be overstated.
Since 1 July 2009, section 40 of RICA has barred operators from activating a SIM before they record its number and the customer’s full name, identity number and at least one address. Visitors roaming on a local network with a SIM from a foreign operator are exempt.
Carriers
Mobile networks South Africans use
ICASA publishes national totals without a split by operator. APNIC Labs’ user estimates show how the networks compare; Telkom’s figure includes its home broadband.
| Network | What it runs | ASN in a lookup | Share of South African users | IPv6 | Our sample of 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telkom | Mobile and home broadband | AS37457 · AS5713 | 15.8% | 0.1% | 4 |
| Vodacom | Mobile network | AS29975 · AS36994 | 15.1% | 0.1% | None |
| MTN | Mobile network | AS12091 · AS16637 | 12% | 0.1% | 6 |
| rain | Mobile data network | AS37105 | 7% | 0.1% | None |
| Cell C | Mobile, on partner towers | AS37168 | 4.1% | 0.1% | 2 |
User shares: APNIC Labs, 24 October 2026, each operator’s ASNs added together; IPv6: APNIC, to 25 October 2026. Sample: our gateway, 26 October 2026. MTN’s six exits were five on AS16637 and one on AS12091; all four Telkom exits were on AS37457.
For developers
Keep an exit only if it is on a South African carrier
Each try opens a 30-minute sticky session, reads the exit’s country and network from ipinfo.io, and stops at the first exit with a carrier ASN. That proxy URL then carries the rest of the job.
import requests, uuid
GATE = "gate.aeonproxy.com:7000"
CARRIERS = {
"AS16637": "MTN", "AS12091": "MTN",
"AS37457": "Telkom", "AS5713": "Telkom",
"AS37168": "Cell C",
"AS29975": "Vodacom", "AS36994": "Vodacom",
"AS37105": "rain",
}
def za_carrier_exit(tries=6):
for _ in range(tries):
login = f"ap_a1b2c3-cc-za-sid-{uuid.uuid4().hex[:8]}-time-1800"
proxy = f"http://{login}:PASS@{GATE}"
info = requests.get("https://ipinfo.io/json",
proxies={"http": proxy, "https": proxy}, timeout=25).json()
carrier = CARRIERS.get(info.get("org", "").split(" ")[0])
if info.get("country") == "ZA" and carrier:
return proxy, info, carrier
raise RuntimeError(f"no South African carrier exit in {tries} tries")
proxy, info, carrier = za_carrier_exit()
print(carrier, "|", info["org"], "|", info["ip"])
# Cell C | AS37168 Cell C (Pty) Ltd | 41.50.XX.XX
with requests.Session() as s:
s.proxies = {"http": proxy, "https": proxy} # one exit for the next 30 minutes
print(s.get("https://www.takealot.com/", timeout=30).status_code)Telkom’s AS5713 also serves fibre and DSL homes, so an exit there may be a fixed line; drop it from the map if you need phones only. SOCKS5 listens on port 7001 and takes the same login.
curl -x gate.aeonproxy.com:7000 \
-U "ap_a1b2c3-cc-za-sid-jhbmob1-time-1800:PASS" \
https://ipinfo.io/json
# "country": "ZA", "org": "AS16637 MTN SA"Coverage
4G reaches almost everyone, 5G more than half
Share of South Africans covered by each mobile generation in 2025, from ICASA’s questionnaire to operators. 3G is still on the air.
ICASA, State of the ICT Sector Report, 31 March 2026, section 4.5.
Local targets
Phone-first platforms and sites to check from a carrier IP
Your page and ads
Facebook sent 72.37% of social referrals to South African sites in September 2026. Check your own page and ad placements from a carrier address, within Meta’s rules.
Mobile shop prices
The most visited South African shopping site. Compare prices, deals and delivery dates on its mobile site with a desktop session.
Classifieds
First among classifieds. Count ads and asking prices by category on the mobile site, and leave sellers’ phone numbers alone.
Property listings
First in real estate. Listing counts and asking prices by suburb, read from a phone address.
Grocery specials
First among grocery sites in September 2026. Weekly specials and basket prices as the mobile site shows them.
Release checks
Android ran 81% of South African mobile page views in September 2026 and iOS 18.6%. Test sign-up and store pages on MTN, Telkom or Cell C before you ship.
Rankings: Similarweb, September 2026. Reach: DataReportal, Digital 2026. Referrals and devices: StatCounter. Public pages or your own accounts, under each site’s terms.
Pricing
Buy South Africa mobile proxies by the GB
South Africa is on the same ladder as every other country. Whichever tier a purchase lands in prices all of it, so every GB of a 500 GB purchase costs $2.39, and the GB stay on your balance until you use them.
| Traffic you buy | Price per GB | For example |
|---|---|---|
| 1–9 GB | $3.99 | 5 GB for $19.95 |
| 10–49 GB | $3.49 | 10 GB for $34.90 |
| 50–99 GB | $3.19 | 50 GB for $159.50 |
| 100–249 GB | $2.89 | 100 GB for $289.00 |
| 250–499 GB | $2.59 | 250 GB for $647.50 |
| 500–999 GB | $2.39 | 500 GB for $1,195.00 |
| 1,000+ GB | $2.19 | 1,000 GB for $2,190.00 |
Residential traffic is $0.50 per GB cheaper at each tier. The pricing page has the current free-trial terms.
How carrier IPs behave
IPv4 only, and shared by many phones
APNIC Labs put Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, Cell C and rain at 0.1% IPv6 in October 2026, against 4.1% for the country. Networks that run almost entirely on IPv4 normally hide many handsets behind one public address through carrier-grade NAT. A site that counts requests per address counts all of those phones together, so a slow, steady pace works better than bursts.
MTN exits in our sample came from two ASNs, AS16637 and AS12091. PeeringDB files AS16637 under Bayobab Group, formerly MTN GlobalConnect, while ipinfo.io names it MTN SA. Cell C has run no radio network of its own since 2023 and its subscribers connect through MTN and Vodacom towers, but their traffic keeps Cell C’s AS37168.
A rotating login may hand you a new exit on the next request. For anything that has to stay on one address, such as a sign-in, add -sid-<key>-time-1800 for 30 minutes or -time-21600 for the full 6 hours.
Choose the type
Mobile, residential or static for South Africa
All three give you a South African address. They differ in the network behind it and in how long it stays yours.
Mobile
Carrier exits
- MTN, Telkom and Cell C in our October sample.
- Rotating, or sticky for up to 6 hours.
- $3.99 → $2.19 per GB.
- Country key; the dashboard generator lists the provinces and cities on offer for mobile.
For mobile sites, apps and your own accounts.
Residential
Home connections
- 1.71M+ residential IPs in the pool, October 2026.
- Local ISPs such as Afrihost, rain, Herotel and Telkom.
- Province keys, and city keys where available.
- $3.49 → $1.69 per GB.
More on <a href="/south-africa-proxies">South Africa proxies</a>.
Static
ISP and datacenter IPs
- The same address for the whole rental, one customer per IP.
- ISP $4.00 per IP / month; datacenter from $0.50 for 3 days to $2.00 for a month.
- The order page lists which countries have ISP and datacenter IPs.
- Chosen at checkout, no session keys.
See <a href="/isp-proxies">ISP proxies</a>.
POPIA, phone numbers and the Cybercrimes Act
Names and phone numbers are personal information under POPIA. Its section 69 requires consent for unsolicited electronic marketing, so a number copied from a listing or a profile cannot go on a marketing list, and the Information Regulator can fine up to R10 million.
Section 2 of the Cybercrimes Act makes it an offence to access a computer system unlawfully and on purpose. Keep to public, logged-out pages and your own accounts, within each site’s terms. We found no South African law about proxies or VPNs themselves.
Not legal advice. How courts elsewhere have ruled on scraping: cases from 2022 to 2026.Free 200 MB — join our Telegram
Join @aeonprox, link our bot and test residential or mobile proxies for 72 hours. No card needed.
South Africa mobile proxy questions
Mobile traffic on our gateway that leaves South Africa through a carrier (MTN, Telkom or Cell C in our October sample), so a site treats you as a phone on a local network. It is the type for mobile sites, apps and your own social accounts; bulk price checks cost less on residential IPs.
We do not publish a mobile count for South Africa, and the residential figure describes a different pool. The exits are on South African carriers: MTN, Telkom and Cell C in our October sample. A mobile login generated in the dashboard shows what is on offer for the country.
MTN, Telkom and Cell C appeared in our sample, and Vodacom and rain are the other mobile networks South Africans use. There is no carrier key for South Africa; those exist for the US, the UK and Germany. Check the ASN of each exit, as the Python example does.
ICASA put 4G/LTE at 99.5% of the population and 5G at 58.0% in 2025, and 3G still runs. No login key selects the generation, and an IP lookup shows only the carrier.
Choose an amount of traffic on the pricing page: $3.99 per GB up to 9 GB, then lower at each tier, down to $2.19 from 1,000 GB. The rate of your tier covers the whole purchase, and GB never expire.
The session key decides. With -sid-<key>-time-21600 in the login you keep one exit for 6 hours, the maximum; the Python example asks for 1800 seconds, and anything from 60 up works. Without a session key the exit can change with every request.
Residential, at $3.49 → $1.69 per GB, for retail, grocery and property data from home lines. Mobile, at $0.50 per GB more, when a site or app should see a phone network; in the 2022 census 60.5% of households went online mainly through a cellphone.
Open the generator on the dashboard: it lists the provinces and cities on offer for South African mobile traffic, where available. An exit’s real location is what the IP checker shows, so look it up before you rely on a city.
Using one is not an offence under any South African law we found. What you do through it is covered: POPIA needs consent before you market to a phone number, and the Cybercrimes Act makes access to a system without permission a crime. Not legal advice.
Free lists hide who runs an exit and whether the address is a phone at all, and the operator can read unencrypted traffic. Look the address up: MTN, Telkom, Cell C, Vodacom or rain is a carrier, and a hosting company’s ASN means a server.