Beware Dongas! : an assessment of the road ahead for under-serviced area telecommunications operators in South Africa
Date
2005
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Publisher
Southern African Journal of Information and Communication (SAJIC), The Edge Institute / Research ICT Africa, Braamfontein, ZA
Abstract
In 2001 the South African Government began the process of Under-Serviced Area Licensing (USAL) as a
major effort aimed at getting telecommunications into deep rural areas throughout the country. The USAL policy has
three objectives: universal service and access; black economic empowerment; and stimulation of market competition. To
fulfil these three objectives, the policy has to take into account the tensions that exist between the three objectives. The
South African USAL process is not designed to mitigate these conflicts and is, therefore, unable to attain
the objectives. While the policy is aimed at offering community-based and community-owned organisations the
opportunity to provide telecommunications services, the licensing process and the licence conditions do not reflect this.
Financial and educational support from the Government is minimal. Both the licensing process and the business process
of building a telecommunications network are expensive, and gaining capital is difficult for these small companies. It
should also be noted, regarding the business case of the companies, that while at the outset this case was already fairly
weak, changes to the licensing conditions and a saturating cellular market over time have further seriously weakened
this business case, rendering the viability of the companies questionable. For the process to be successful, Government
bodies have to provide more support to the companies, and propagate a stable and clear regulatory environment.
Description
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Journal Article (peer-reviewed)
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Keywords
ACCESS TO INFORMATION, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, INTERNET, TELECOMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS, COMMUNICATION INFRASTRUCTURE, PRIVATE SECTOR, PUBLIC SECTOR, SOUTH AFRICA