Telecommunications

The cost of bandwidth in Africa poses a barrier to the continent’s effective participation in international trade and the knowledge economy, while limiting local markets and education. Without adequate bandwidth Africa runs the risk of being left behind in the global race. The Shuttleworth Foundation is, therefore, actively investing in a project portfolio that will contribute towards solving bandwidth limitations in the African context.

High speed, affordable bandwidth is a vital component of growth in business, education and in attracting international investment. Without sufficient affordable bandwidth being available, international companies who rely on Internet communications for the daily running of their line-of-business systems are unable to enter local markets and educational institutions are limited in terms of their global participation in the knowledge economy.

As a country, South Africa ranks 23rd in global telecommunications development and houses 39 percent of the total telecommunications infrastructure installed in Africa.

National operator Telkom holds a traditional monopoly on the South African market, although it is now challenged by a competitor for the first time in its history, in the form of South Africa’s second network operator. The second operator began rolling out services in 2007, but is yet to make a substantial change to the local market in terms of bandwidth availability and the reduction of costs.

South Africa also represents the fastest growing region in terms of GSM usage with three cellular operators in the region. These providers also offer bandwidth services, but are hindered at the backend by their reliance on Telkom for transmission. Nonetheless, South Africa already offers some of the most affordable mobile broadband offerings in the world – but these are still limited to those who can afford them and are intended for personal use.

According to a study released in 2002, under 3 million South Africans had access to the Internet at the end of 2001 out of a total population of around 45 million. This number is now estimated to have grown to 5.1 million users in 2007 with a population of just under 50 million.

In addressing local bandwidth challenges the Shuttleworth Foundation invests in projects across three levels of penetration; community, educational and research projects with the objective of engaging in policy dialog and informing regulatory change while advocating an open telecommunications market.