| 1.1.1 | In 2007, the South African Government approved the building of an information society. This decision was based on the outcome of the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society. This summit resolved that Information and Communication Technology (lCT) infrastructure is the foundation to the development of an information society. (World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Action Line C2, Information and Communications Infrastructure is an essential foundation for the Information Society.) The development of a Broadband Policy is in line with world trends and is critical for South Africa to ensure realisation of the goal of an all inclusive information society that can enjoy the economic benefits associated with Broadband in both urban and rural areas. |
| 1.1.2 | Broadband platforms promote the convergence of voice, data and audio visual services onto a single network. Broadband infrastructure is central in achieving the goal of digital inclusion, enabling universal, sustainable, ubiquitous and affordable access to ICTs by all, and providing sustainable connectivity and access to remote and marginalized areas at national provincial and municipal levels. |
| 1.1.3 | The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) states in their December 2008 Broadband statistics report that the average penetration rate, in OECD member states, for Broadband is 22.4%. South Africa had just over 1 million Broadband connections which translates into a penetration rate of 2% of individuals. South Africa is clearly well below the average penetration rate with regards to Broadband. The International Telecommunication Union (lTU) further confirms that South Africa has a Broadband penetration rate of 2% and just over a million Broadband connections. |
| 1.1.4 | From these statistics it is clear that Broadband penetration in South Africa is low. This situation can be ascribed to the unavailability of electronic communications infrastructure and the high cost of Broadband services, stifling growth of the information society. |
| 1.1.5 | The lack of affordable universal access to Broadband services, slows economic growth and inhibits social benefits such as better education and health services. It is acknowledged that both the private and public sector has played a significant role in the current provision of Broadband infrastructure. However this is not sufficient and as such requires direct policy intervention and strategic investment. |
Disadvantages associated with the lack of access to affordable Broadband services include:
| • | Reduced access to e-literacy in the educational system |
| • | Lack of access to quality of health services |
| • | Lower efficiency in Government processes |
| • | South Africa becomes a less competitive destination for investment |
| • | Higher cost to communicate |
| • | An increase in the digital divide, thus further disadvantaging rural and marginalised communities |
| • | Reduced access to employment opportunities and job creation |
| 1.1.6 | The funding of Broadband services in the South African context is both fragmented and uncoordinated. At a national level all national departments have budgets that are allocated to ICT roll-out, however these are not spent appropriately and in a coordinated fashion. Further provincial and local Government competencies are not duty bound to coordinate ICT programmes and policies for national benefit and homogeneity. This policy therefore proposes to create a uniform, integrated, homogeneous and coordinated Government approach on the roll-out of Broadband in South Africa, thus ensuring both optimal utilisation of resources and coordinated rollout of infrastructure. |
| 1.1.7 | This Policy focuses on increasing the accessibility, availability, affordability and usage of Broadband services throughout South Africa. |
| 1.1.8 | Broadband services ("always available, high speed multimedia capable network services") have been identified globally as a powerful transformative force. Affordable access to these networks has become a key priority for governments internationally. Broadband empowers individuals, communities and businesses through access to the "Information Superhighway" which provides access to local and international electronic content. Broadband provides businesses with an extremely powerful tool that can increase productivity and marketability through the use of communication services. |
| 1.1.9 | This policy acknowledges the achievement of the private and public sector in establishing the Broadband infrastructure as it exists today. However this infrastructure is mainly confined to urban areas and is limited in affordability and accessibility. The policy also acknowledges that Broadband and ICT initiatives are already underway in the three spheres of Government. |
The policy aims to:
| • | define Broadband for South Africa; |
| • | articulate the Government's commitment to providing appropriate support for digital inclusion. thus building the information society; and |
| • | clarify the roles of the Government, State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) and the private sector in developing world-class Broadband infrastructure in the country. |
| 1.2.1 | Broadband development is governed within the following legislative framework: |
| • | the Electronic Communications Act (ECA) 36 of (2005), which provides the legal framework for the convergence of communication technologies in South Africa; |
| • | the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) Act 13 of (2000) as amended, which enables the effective and independent regulation of the ICT sector in South Africa; |
| • | the Inter-Governmental Relations Framework (fGRF) Act (2005), which sets the framework for the interaction and relationship between the three spheres of Government; and |
| • | the Electronic Communications Transactions (ECT) Act (2002), which sets the framework for electronic transactions and the verification thereof. |
| 1.3 | Definition of broadband for South Africa |
| 1.3.1 | While Broadband is a widely used term, the precise speed at which a network connection is deemed to be a Broadband service, varies greatly both locally and internationally. Even within the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) the different sectors, in alignment with their functions, have different definitions for Broadband. The Standardization Sector defines Broadband as a speed of 1.5 to 2 Mbps while the Development Sector defines Broadband to be 256 kbps. |
| 1.3.2 | Comparative research demonstrated that the definition of Broadband in different countries, varies between 128 kbps and 10 Mbps. |
| 1.3.3 | South Africa will follow the guideline from the ITU Development Sector and as such Broadband will be interpreted as an always available, multimedia capable connection with a download speed of at least 256 kbps. |
The vision of this policy is to ensure universal access to Broadband by 2019 by ensuring that South Africans are able to access Broadband either individually, or as a household, subscribe to a Broadband service, or are able to access a Broadband service directly or indirectly at a private or public access point.
