South Africa: Government will discuss telecommunications policy

 16 May 2003 – According to a report by CIT, South Africa’s Department of Communications is organising an international conference in Johannesburg in July to discuss a thorough overhaul of the country’s telecommunications legislation. The South African government hopes the conference will allow industry players to have significant input into a discussion document that will guide future telecom legislation.

Although South Africa’s teledensity of over 10% is relatively high for Africa, there are large disparities between rural and urban areas. South Africa has an extensive backbone with excellent communications networks in the commercial centres. On the other hand, in rural areas there is very low penetration of telecom services. Nearly half of the country’s 4.9 million lines (September 2002) are in Gauteng and the Western Cape, the country’s most economically productive provinces. The rural/urban divide is reflected in the fact that the availability of telephony services stands at just 9% for rural households, compared with 64% for urban households.

A principal aim of the planned legislation will be to reduce these inequalities by encouraging new companies to offer services in rural areas where Telkom SA does not have a presence.

Intelecon Research & Consultancy Ltd. 16/05/2003

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