For WiFi and broadband to flourish in Africa there must be a concerted effort to cut the costs involved and revise existing legislation, speakers at the first day of the African WiFi summit in Sandton said this morning.
The potential for WiFi applications in Africa was unlimited, said Envir Fraser, Department of Communications senior manager of e-business.
"The main attraction of WiFi is obviously the portability and mobility it offers the modern lifestyle. This is particularly relevant in the African context, because the growth of mobile has surpassed that of fixed line. Another important point is the limited number of regulatory barriers to entry."
Fraser added that there were two main considerations to be looked at, namely whether access would be cheap and whether consumers would be willing to pay.
While acknowledging mobile as the way of the future, Fraser conceded that high costs needed to be addressed before WiFi could flourish. "It is still quite a difficult issue to create a conducive environment, but I think that we are taking steps towards it. We need to increase competition, and to revise existing policy and regulatory frameworks."
Andries Matthysen, the senior manager of licensing enforcement for SA regulatory body ICASA, agreed, adding that telecoms policy-making remained a regulatory hot seat. "I`m glad I am not in their shoes. There are some extremely important decisions to be made in the near future," he said.
On the topic of broadband in Africa, Fraser says the continent was lagging far behind leading countries. "Of the 700 million broadband access users that existed in 2002, very few were in Africa. This lack of broadband is another significant inhibitor to the adoption of WiFi."
Looking to the future, Matthysen said value added network services (VANS) could play a potentially significant role. "VANS are currently limited, and I believe there needs to be a revision of some of them. If the communications minister were to sign in self-provision by VANS, it would change the picture completely. I honestly believe this decision has huge implications."
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