From humble beginnings, the Internet has exploded into Africa, accelerating rapidly especially in recent years. In the early 90`s, Internet use in South Africa was limited to a select few academics at a small university in one of the poorest areas in the country. Today, the country has become one the world`s top 20 nations using the Internet - and this accomplishment is just the tip of the iceberg with a population crying out for connectivity.
Although South Africa`s usage numbers are still relatively small in global terms, demand for the Internet remains high, which may catapult the country further up the list of prominent Internet-enabled nations.
South Africa has a highly developed economy and better infrastructure than many of its African counterparts. The South African business community has capitalised on this infrastructure and opportunities presented by the Internet with alacrity over the past decade.
Telecommunications analyst Mike Jenson points out that most contemporary advertisers include a Web address as part of their communication. Roadside billboards routinely advertise an Internet presence. Television and radio shows have their own websites. Numerous daily and weekly newspapers have on-line versions.
Services offered over the Internet have grown from basic `brochure` functionality to encompass electronic banking and events booking/ticketing. Almost any product can be purchased online through local Internet service providers, many of which have established secure services and electronic commerce facilities.
Government and academic networks have also developed, and global government players like the World Bank regard the development of Internet services in South Africa and across the entire region as critical to Africa`s social and economic development.
MD of technology research and consulting company World Wide Worx, Arthur Goldstuck, says sluggish dial-up growth stands in dramatic contrast to the growth in the total number of leased lines - permanent high-speed connections to the Internet - installed in South African businesses. The number of such lines reached just under 7000 at the end of 2001, reflecting an insatiable demand for bandwidth from corporate users of the Internet.
He believes the current slow growth outside of the corporate market is largely a factor of ongoing delays in licensing a second fixed line network operator (SNO), the telecommunications utility Telkom`s own uncompromising attitude towards Internet service providers, and market ignorance of the continued value of the Internet in the wake of the technology market crash of 2000 and 2001.
"There are positive signs amid the Internet access gloom," says Goldstuck. "The educational environment in particular is poised for a boom in access with numerous projects underway to connect schools to the Internet. That will not only be a positive intervention in the short term, but will provide a healthy underpinning for long-term growth of Internet access in South Africa," he adds.
It is anticipated that this approach will open up the market extensively, improving for education, literacy and access to information, thereby improving the nation as a whole.
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