After the 2010 World Cup, a lot of people are asking the question, “how will all this billions spent affect the average South African citizen or the man on the street?”
South Africa currently has a broadband penetration of about 2% which would explain why broadband is still very expensive (if not amongst the most expensive) compared to most countries, but for a market which can be considered a niche market, pricing is relatively affordable compared to just a couple of years ago.
Obviously with all the money invested in the World Cup as an ad for the country, the logical next step would be to improve the telecommunications infrastructure in order to cater for foreign investors. Hopefully this will materialize and not remain an empty promise:
Government’s objectives include social upliftment and economic growth. One of the methods to achieve these goals is to increase the access to and availability of Broadband services. Broadband services open the global village to South Africa and its citizens by providing and electronic communication highway and enabling its people to communicate and transact anywhere, anytime in both urban and rural areas. South Africa’s economy is in a transition phase like many other developing economies around the world, and investment into Broadband is crucial for South Africa to progress into a knowledge based economy. Broadband is the key catalyst to accelerate the country’s development agenda as well as to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
Attached the official, revised Broadband Policy Gazette.
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Tags: broadband, government, internet