BROADBAND IN SOUTH AFRICA

1
BROADBAND IN SOUTH AFRICA

• Rudolph Muller
• Department of BIT
• University of Johannesburg

2
Introduction

• Local Broadband Comparison
• International Benchmarking
• Possible solutions

3
South AfricanBroadband Comparison
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Download Upload Speeds
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Percentage of Advertised Performance
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International Benchmarking
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Broadband Penetration
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Broadband Speed Cost
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OECD Technologies
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South African Technologies
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Broadband Technologies SA
2005
2009
Source BMI-T
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Wireless Broadband Cost (1G)
Flat rate, price possibly inaccurate
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DSL Cost/G
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Why internationally competitive?

• Economic Growth, Education, Outsourcing, Local IT
  Industry Growth, SMME, Growth, Local Content etc
  
• Not to fall behind!

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• So what is happening in
• South Africa?

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Wireless

• Healthy Competition
• The Result
• Up to date technologies and internationally
  competitively prices

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• FIXED LINE ARENA

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TELKOM MONOPOLY
In standard economic theory a monopoly will sell
a lower quantity of goods DSL 192, 384 with very
low bitcaps, slow speeds at a higher price
Telkom charges up to 1000 more than
international standards than firms would in a
purely competitive market. In this way the
monopoly will secure monopoly profits R 6.8
billion per year!. It is also often argued that
monopolies tend to become less efficient and
innovative over time, becoming "complacent
giants" need we say more
The Result
Source Wikipedia
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Telkom Statements of Concern
Capping of the service ensures that customers
enjoy the true ADSL experience of fast Internet
Telkom, ICASA Hearings Telkoms ADSL service
was never intended for bandwidth hungry
applications, such as gaming or online trading,
such applications use large bandwidth, hence
affects the bandwidth that is available for usage
by other customers. Telkom, ICASA Hearing For
customers with bandwidth intensive communication
needs these access methods (ADSL) would not be
sufficient and other products, for example
Telkoms Diginet products, would be more
appropriate Telkom, ICASA Hearings If this
goes through (ICASA Findings), we may have to
switch off our services. Steven White, Telkom
Telkom Ads
?
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International Trends

• Flat rate Telephony, Content as a new revenue
  product
• Triple Play Broadband, Voice, Television
• Free France 20Mpbs, Unlimited Fixed Line calls,
  88 Television Channels, R 250-00 per month
• High uptake with falling prices
• Higher speeds bumped up at no extra cost
• Hong Kong 1 Gbps service, Japan 100 Mbps
• Various value added services
• WiMax Hype or True solution? May create new
  opportunities.

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Conclusions
To improve broadband in SA, we need strong
competition. --More players in the fixed line
broadband market --Local Loop Unbundling --True
wholesale opportunities to ISPs --Affordable
International Bandwidth Prices (SAT3) --Strong
and Independent Regulator --Enforce Peering
Agreements --Encourage innovative use of ISM
spectrum (WISP), allow the unlicensed use of
these frequency bands
Dr. Kelly, ITU
Dr. Reynolds, OECD
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• Q A