South Africa's telecommunications
It should come as no surprise that the country that invented touchtone dialling offers world-class telecommunications.Telecommunications is one of the fastest growing sectors of South Africa's economy, reflecting the rapid growth of mobile telephony in the country. The communications sector, together with transport and storage, accounts for almost 10% of gross domestic product (GDP).
With a network that is 99.9% digital and includes the latest in fixed-line, wireless and satellite communication, the country has the most developed telecoms network in Africa.
The fixed-line monopoly of Telkom, a listed company in which the government is the largest shareholder, expired with the licensing of Neotel as South Africa's second national operator. Neotel is licensed to provide the entire range of telecoms services with the exception of full mobility.
South Africa's mobile boom
South Africa is the fourth-fastest growing mobile
communications market in the world. The country's three cellular network operators - Vodacom, MTN and Cell C - provide telephony to over 39-million subscribers or nearly 80% of the population.
The introduction of number portability as well as the arrival in 2006 of Virgin Mobile, a virtual network service provider that operates in partnership with Cell C, has helped enhance competition.
South African mobile companies are making inroads into Africa and the Middle East, with MTN leading with over 20 operations in these emerging markets.
At home, some of the world's leading telecommunication brands - including Siemens, Alcatel, SBC Communications, Telecom Malaysia and Vodafone - have made significant investments in the local industry.
Bandwidth access and costs
Wider access to broadband, ADSL and 3G access has boosted internet connectivity, with the number of South African internet browsers increasing by 121% in two years, from
1.8-million in May 2005 to 3.8-million in May 2007, according to research firm Nielsen/NetRatings.
Bandwidth, however, remains relatively limited and expensive in South Africa, hampering the rate of economic growth. But the government has committed to increasing accessibility and bringing down costs.
To this end, the Cabinet approved laws early in 2008 to enable the formation of Infraco, a new state-owned company that will provide broadband capacity through fibre-optic cables to other telecoms operators in the country.
Infraco's role will complement that of state-owned signals provider Sentech, which provides internet connectivity - focusing on the public sector - through wireless systems rather than fibre-optic cables.
Meanwhile, major cities such as Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria have launched public-private initiatives to build their own broadband networks in order to provide residents with cheaper voice and data services.
And in September 2007, mobile company MTN announced that it would partner with other operators to build a 5 000-kilometre fibre-optic network across the country's major centres to meet the increasing demand for bandwidth from its customers.
Two undersea telecoms cables are also being laid that will help bring down connectivity costs in eastern and southern Africa. The East Africa Submarine System (EASSy), a 9 900km fibre-optic cable running along Africa's east coast from Port Sudan to Durban, is scheduled for completion by early 2009.
And Neotel will partner with private submarine cable operator Seacom to land a private-equity funded cable that will connect south and east Africa to Europe and India by early 2009.
Article last updated: March 2008
SAinfo reporter. Sources:
- Standard Bank: Economic Profile: South Africa 2007
- Telkom
- Cell C
- MTN
- Neotel
- Business Day
- Business Report
- ITWeb
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