South Africans spend as much money on connectivity as they do on food, with telecommunications services still very expensive for most of the population. Releasing the "Western Cape Digital Readiness Assessment 2015" report, economic development MEC Alan Winde said the people of the province spent more than 20% of their income on connectivity."Nationally, users spend 24.7% of their income on mobile services, which includes data and voice."According to the International Telecommunication Union, anything above 5% is not affordable," Winde said.The report states that the share of household income devoted to mobile services is rising and might reduce budgets for food, health and education.Winde said his government was investing R2.89-billion in the provision of broadband in Western Cape.Premier Helen Zille announced last year that Western Cape had made information and communication technology one of its "game-changers" and intended to provide free Wi-Fi access at government sites."This research provides a baseline for us from which to track our broadband roll-out programme," said Winde.He said that by the end of the year there would be 2000 free provincial government Wi-Fi sites, including in schools, libraries and health facilities.The research found that 60.3% of Western Cape residents used their phones to search for answers to health-related queries.ICT commentator Arthur Goldstuck said communication had become such a fundamental need that people would spend as much on it as on food."It's going to take another five years before free Wi-Fi becomes pervasive enough that it has an impact on the cost of connectivity."He said the provision of free Wi-Fi in cities such as Tshwane, Johannesburg and Cape Town was a step in the right direction.The Digital Readiness assessment found that 91.4% of people in the province used their cellphone to connect to the internet, and that 93.5% of those who used the internet were signed up with social media networks."About 44% of households in the Western Cape use the internet regularly. For individuals the figure is 57%. This is high in comparison with the rest of South Africa."..