Can South Africa afford ADSL?

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 8 October 2006

The affordability and availability of ADSL remain critical issues in a South African context.

Can South Africa afford ADSL? This is the question one can ask taking into consideration the current state of affairs in regards to ADSL in South Africa. You don’t want to pay a lot of money for something you can get cheaper elsewhere or can’t utilize effectively. This is true especially when its of much better quality and always available elsewhere. Maybe you as an individual can afford the most expensive ADSL service money can buy but can South Africa as a whole afford it any longer? The reason for this question is that SMEs (Small/medium-sized enterprises) in South Africa are taking serious knocks due to the “limited availability of ADSL, un-affordability of leased lines, and the unavailability of 1 Megabyte data lines” (MyADSL).

SMEs play a vital role in creating jobs. In other words, in giving many South Africans a better quality of life. SMEs definitely have a positive influence on the South African economy as a whole. We all pay therefore in some way when they fail to compete with SMEs in other parts of the world especially when many need to close their doors. There will always be businesses that will close their doors but it’s unacceptable when this happen due to constraints place on them by some fat cat like Telkom. We all know that Telkom is mainly to be blamed for the situation in South Africa in regard to broadband and all of that. It is time Telkom takes responsibility for its actions. Its restraining economic growth resulting in unnecessary hardship. Unnecessary hardship because they don’t do what’s necessary to make broadband work for all South Africans. It’s within their reach to make a positive difference but they insist on going the other way. Of course not much will happen while ICASA for one can be counted as a buddy of Telkom.

An increasing number of people are making use of broadband services in South Africa. It’s estimated that there are well over 300 000 broadband users in South Africa at this stage although the high prices of broadband services remain a thorn in the flesh for many. Some argue that if Telkom further lowers ADSL prices for one they will not be able to keep up with all the new users coming aboard. Tough luck. The truth of the matter is that such reasoning is based on insanity to say the least. Based on insanity because the blame is squarely to be placed on Telkom’s porch in the first place. If they weren’t so damn greedy things would have worked out quite differently. We were paying then and we’re still paying for their greediness. It’s time Telkom pays up for a change.

Do you think they’re really worried about all the back logs? No, they are making millions. They can afford to employ more people but know because of the monopoly they have they really don’t have to perform at all to show a profit. In fact management can be non-existent and it will still show a hefty profit.

It remains to be seen if Neotel will be able to make a big enough difference. We can all just hope that the arsenal Neotel is building up will be large enough to fight Telkom long enough to see positive changes. In the mean time many South Africans will keep suffering because of the inefficiencies created by Telkom.