Communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri mentioned the cost of bandwidth as a major challenge for the growth of the ICT sector for the first time during a speech in Port Elizabeth yesterday.
In her speech, delivered at the International Trade and Development Conference, Matsepe-Casaburri said a development gap had been identified, "namely lack of access to low cost broadband and the development of a SA broadband corridor, the development of local content, human resource development and the development of local entrepreneurship".
She continued: "We are further faced with the challenges of promoting cheaper access, broadband services and affordable bandwidth, as well as accelerating high-bandwidth services for multimedia applications, Internet and video conferencing."
Matsepe-Casaburri said SA`s ICT industry is the twentieth largest in the world, contributing 0.5% to worldwide ICT revenues. The total cellphone subscriber base is more than 14 million compared with 4.8 million fixed-lines. There are also between 2.5 million and 3.5 million Internet connections.
"Clearly, the South African market is among the fastest growing markets in the world. The growth of the ICT sector depends on infrastructure development, coupled with enabling progressive policy, legislation and regulation, coupled with a political commitment that not only gives strategic vision but also champions the sector," she said.
Department of Communications staff confirmed this is the first time Matsepe-Casaburri has mentioned the cost of bandwidth as being a challenge to the growth of the ICT sector. However, the department`s director-general Andile Ngcaba did mention the issue at the recent convergence colloquium held in Johannesburg.
Admission welcomed
Ant Brooks, head of regulatory issues for the Internet Service Providers` Association, says: "I warmly welcome the minister`s remarks and look forward to her taking the necessary steps to reduce bandwidth costs quickly."
Brooks says steps that could be taken include allowing value-added network services to carry voice, allowing them to sublet their facilities and allowing Internet service providers to develop their own telecommunications infrastructures and not rely on Telkom`s.
"One notice in the Government Gazette allowing that to happen would solve the bandwidth cost issue," Brooks says.
In a census of Western Cape ICT firms carried out by the Cape IT Initiative, companies cited the cost of bandwidth as the single largest input cost, apart from salaries.
Telkom, which listed in February, but still with a 30% government shareholding, has become a de facto monopoly with the failure of the Department of Communications and the regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of SA, to license a second national fixed-line operator.
Matsepe-Casaburri recently returned from accompanying president Thabo Mbeki on his state visit to India. While in India, she visited a number of joint government and private sector partnerships that have been responsible for making that country a major player in the global ICT sector.
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