Buying a SIM Card in South Africa

Last updated: 29 June 2023

If you’re planning a visit to South Africa and interested in keeping connected then you’re probably looking at options to buying a local SIM card. I mean, hotel and Airbnb WiFi is great but it’s hardly helpful when you’re out and about. We’re big fans of picking up a local SIM cards in most places we visit, as you can tell from our posts from Turkey, Poland, Latvia, and Thailand so here’s what you need to know about buying a SIM card in South Africa.

What You Need To Know

Buying a SIM card in South Africa for visitors can be a little more difficult than some other countries due to a legal requirement called RICA, the Regulation of Interception of Communications and provision of communication‑related information Act. This requirement basically requires people to provide proof of a local South African address to purchase a SIM card.

The good news is that if you’re a visitor to South Africa and need a local SIM card then you can organise a pre-RICA SIM card and then collect it in the arrivals hall at Cape Town, Johannesburg, and Durban airports. However, you will pay for the convenience of this option. This is the option that we decided to go with during our visit to Cape Town because we wanted to ensure that we were connected to the Internet by the time we left the airport.

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Now, please be aware that the information I am sharing here is what worked for us on our trip to South Africa. There are other options available however we preferred to ensure we left the airport with a working SIM card and reliable Internet connection, especially since we were relying on Google Maps for driving routes. This is why we found an airport collection the easiest of all options. If you’re in the same boat and want to ensure that everything is sorted in the arrivals hall then we recommend the below, which is what we used during our visit.

Connecting through B4i.Travel

First things first, this is NOT a sponsored post nor are we receiving any payment for this recommendation, this is simply the option we selected when we travelled to Cape Town and because it was so easy a process, we want to share it with you.

We purchased a pre-RICA SIM card through B4i.travel and opted for The Big Five option for R789 (£43) which provided us with;

The Big Five – R789 / £43 / $55 USD

• 5GB LTE data
• 200 Local SMS
• International Calling
• R150 Vodacom Credit
• Vodacom Trio SIM Card

The other options available through B4i (as of June 2019) are;

The Big One – R531 / £29 / $37 USD

• 2GB LTE Data
• R110 Credit Value
• International Calling

The Big Three – R645 / £40 / $45 USD

• 5GB LTE Data
• Data only

We decided to go with The Big Five instead of The Big Three because for an extra £3 we had additional credit for calls and text messages in the event we needed to make calls to hotels or restaurants. I’ve always believed it’s better to have something and not need it than to need something and not have it.

Picking Up Your SIM Card

If we had any issues with paying a little more than we would normally would for a local SIM then that all vanished the moment we arrived in the Arrivals hall at Cape Town International airport.

The Vodacom desk is located immediately to the right when you first arrive and when we walked over we were met by a team a very friendly team members who had our SIM card waiting for us. The team member who served us, Randall, couldn’t have been more helpful as he warmly welcomed us to South Africa, swapped over the SIM card into my phone, and had us on our way in a matter of minutes.

Any concerns we had about paying a little more for the SIM card disappeared with the terrific service received in the minutes after arriving in Cape Town international airport.

Is 5GB Enough?

That’s a question we asked ourselves when looking at the available SIM card options. To be honest we weren’t sure that it would be enough given just how much we rely on our phones and an Internet connection however since it was the largest amount possible at the time.  The good news is that with all the Internet browsing, social media (and we uploaded A LOT), plus Google Maps searches, and connecting other devices we used a grand total of 3GB in just over a week.

It turned out that 5GB was more than enough. However, keep in mind that we did not upload or backup any photos to cloud storage on mobile data, we waited until we were at our hotels for that.

Final Thoughts

If you’re planning a visit to South Africa and flying into Cape Town then one of the easiest options for organising a local SIM card is to order one online and have it waiting for it you at the arrivals terminal. This way you can ensure you’re connected and ready to explore Cape Town with a fully connected local SIM card.

Whilst there might be other ways to pick up a SIM card during your travels, collecting at the airport is definitely the easiest and without issue.

Happy Travels