Preamble
Over the last five years, developed countries have taken steps to invest in broadband as a driver of economic development. In South Africa we have pursued a number of strategies to promote affordable broadband. While these have yet to deliver, we are on the cusp of major broadband infrastructure roll-out.
A 2009 World Bank report has analysed the impact of broadband on growth in 120 countries from 1980 to 2006, showing that each 10 percentage points of broadband penetration results in 1.21% increase in per capita GDP growth in developed countries, and 1.38% increase in developing countries. Investing in broadband is an investment in economic growth and development.
Broadband is not only an issue of high-speed networks, it also provides a platform for interactive technologies that enable ordinary people to produce, share and distribute content on the Web. These technologies are likely to become as ubiquitous on mobile devices as they are on the internet. This poses challenges and opportunities for local content industries to generate and distribute content for a broadband world.
Broadband can help South Africans face the challenges posed by rapid climate change through providing opportunities for economic growth in ways that have a smaller ecological footprint, and by helping citizens and communities, researchers and advocacy groups access and exchange relevant information. Development of new broadband infrastructure can play a powerful leadership role by making use of renewable energy sources from the outset.
Broadband can also help facilitate e-citizenship and e-governance and enhance relations between citizens and government to build and strengthen our democracy.
Broadband internet has enormous potential for strengthening community voice in public debate and decision-making and in maintaining transparency and accountability by government.
Broadband enables an array of interactive, participatory, skill-building opportunities for young people, which are completely aligned with outcomes-based education – it teaches learners how to be critical, analytical, communicative, and how to work in a group.
Without access to affordable broadband, South African youth are faced with unequal access to the opportunities, experience, skills and knowledge that will prepare them for full participation in the economy.
Broadband penetration in South Africa lags behind countries with a similar level of development such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Turkey. South Africa has fallen into fourth place in internet penetration in Africa, which is a shocking position for the continent’s biggest economy.
One of the reasons for this is that there hasn’t been a coherent policy framework to guide the development of broadband. The election of a new government on 22 April 2009 provides an opportunity to look at the policy framework with fresh eyes and to consider the inter-related components needed to develop a coherent national broadband strategy.
Basic Terms
Broadband: Broadband technology is usually defined as any ‘always-on’ high speed connection to the Internet. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) specifies a download speed of 256 Kilobits per second or higher as constituting a broadband connection as opposed to the much slower dial-up connection to the Internet. We would like to see a more ambitious approach to speed in South Africa so that citizens and consumers can access digital broadband content easily over broadband networks. Stakeholders should support an initial target for broadband transmission of 4 Megabits per second in 2009 while recognising that this should be reviewed regularly to reflect bandwidth demand from new applications and services.
Access: By access we mean individual, group, sector and community connectivity to the internet. This implies that we are concerned with multiple access points, including mobile, home, workplace, public (e.g. community centres) and schools, amongst them. Access also implies that these individuals, groups, sectors or communities have access to the appropriate technology to connect to broadband.
Affordability: While difficult to define, part of any ongoing strategy would require a continual assessment of what is affordable for the majority of people according to a basic set of access needs. This we call ‘essential access’, and may entail access to government services, to economic opportunities, or to basic peer-to-peer communication facilities. Once this basket of essential services are determined, ‘breadline’ broadband pricing can be calculated, which might be tiered for sectors and communities.
