Welcome to the InfoSci Platform
Reference Hub1
South Africa: A Long Walk to Broadband Freedom

South Africa: A Long Walk to Broadband Freedom

Justin Henley Beneke
Copyright: © 2008 |Pages: 16
ISBN13: 9781599048512|ISBN10: 1599048515|EISBN13: 9781599048529
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-59904-851-2.ch002
Cite Chapter Cite Chapter

MLA

Beneke, Justin Henley. "South Africa: A Long Walk to Broadband Freedom." Handbook of Research on Global Diffusion of Broadband Data Transmission, edited by Yogesh K. Dwivedi, et al., IGI Global, 2008, pp. 13-28. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-59904-851-2.ch002

APA

Beneke, J. H. (2008). South Africa: A Long Walk to Broadband Freedom. In Y. Dwivedi, A. Papazafeiropoulou, & J. Choudrie (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Global Diffusion of Broadband Data Transmission (pp. 13-28). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-59904-851-2.ch002

Chicago

Beneke, Justin Henley. "South Africa: A Long Walk to Broadband Freedom." In Handbook of Research on Global Diffusion of Broadband Data Transmission, edited by Yogesh K. Dwivedi, Anastasia Papazafeiropoulou, and Jyoti Choudrie, 13-28. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2008. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-59904-851-2.ch002

Export Reference

Mendeley
Favorite

Abstract

South Africa has fallen behind its international peers both developing and developed markets in the race to rollout broadband services. In fact, even within the African continent, it is neither the broadband leader nor progressive in comparison to its Northern African counterparts. This chapter explores the development of broadband services in South Africa, as well as touching on the challenges faced in bringing this phenomenon into the mainstream. Reasons for the lack of diffusion and adoption of such services point to high end user costs of the service, a very limited geographical footprint of both fixedline and mobile broadband infrastructure, as well as a lack of computer literacy and an understanding of what broadband is able to offer. The chapter looks at possible solutions, including introducing a greater degree of competition into the market to facilitate downward pressure on prices, as well as providing cost-based access to international submarine fiber cables and the unbundling of the local loop to further this objective.

Request Access

You do not own this content. Please login to recommend this title to your institution's librarian or purchase it from the IGI Global bookstore.