10Mbps minimum broadband speed for South Africa: DFA CEO

[rpm]

10Mbps minimum broadband speed for SA: DFA CEO

“If someone tries to sell you 1Mbps or 4Mbps at your office, you should chase that oke away”

[froot]

That's all good and well, but you can't sell what you don't have, unless you're a scam artist

[chrisc4290]

That is just speechifying, trying to make his business look good at the expense of other ISPs. He should know that reality is quite different from his vision of what things ought to be. In any case, Australia is a far richer country than SA and can afford to develop their infrastructure. Also, maybe Australia has a Dept of Communications that actually knows what they are doing.

[Randux]

maybe Australia has a Dept of Communications that actually knows what they are doing.

I bank on this

[Pr⊕phet]

10Mbps minimum broadband speed for SA: DFA CEO

“If someone tries to sell you 1Mbps or 4Mbps at your office, you should chase that oke away”

Another feel good talk another feel good promise in the making

[Tick]

In any case, Australia is a far richer country than SA and can afford to develop their infrastructure.

Can we stop with this low-standards BULL****, please? When South Korea started on its primary growth trajectory, it was one of the poorest countries in the world, and now not only do they lead the world in broadband penetration and broadband speeds, but they're also currently rolling out 1Gbps broadband to everyone. We know why our broadband is overpriced, and it's not because our economy can't support faster speeds, but because of the regulatory environment (just look how much difference a little bit of competition has already made in just a few years - we've seen several new under-ocean fibre cables land in South Africa, and there are not one but about three or four separate projects to build out massive terrestrial fibre networks across the country) (and, because Telkom made a few big expensive mistakes - the money is/was there to create a massive world-leading DSL network, but Telkom blew part of it on the Nigerian multilinks fiasco, part on 8ta, and part on that Competition Commission fine). What Chris is doing is exactly right - because part of the problem we sit with is people like you who demand low speeds by continually crying that we are "too poor" - by explaining what is possible, and creating demand from the bottom, there will be more pressure for the problems to be solved at the top. Take your give-up-already attitude somewhere else. Even other poorer African countries are starting to overtake us in terms of broadband availability and affordability and still people can't get this stupid "we're too poor" meme out their heads.

[Knyro]

Can we stop with this low-standards BULL****, please? When South Korea started on its primary growth trajectory, it was one of the poorest countries in the world, and now not only do they lead the world in broadband penetration and broadband speeds, but they're also currently rolling out 1Gbps broadband to everyone. We know why our broadband is overpriced, and it's not because our economy can't support faster speeds, but because of the regulatory environment (just look how much difference a little bit of competition has already made in just a few years - we've seen several new under-ocean fibre cables land in South Africa, and there are not one but about three or four separate projects to build out massive terrestrial fibre networks across the country) (and, because Telkom made a few big expensive mistakes - the money is/was there to create a massive world-leading DSL network, but Telkom blew part of it on the Nigerian multilinks fiasco, part on 8ta, and part on that Competition Commission fine). What Chris is doing is exactly right - because part of the problem we sit with is people like you who demand low speeds by continually crying that we are "too poor" - by explaining what is possible, and creating demand from the bottom, there will be more pressure for the problems to be solved at the top. Take your give-up-already attitude somewhere else. Even other poorer African countries are starting to overtake us in terms of broadband availability and affordability and still people can't get this stupid "we're too poor" meme out their heads.

+1

It really is amazing what South Korea and Japan have been able to pull off in the last 50 years. A "can-do" attitude is exactly what is needed in SA. It would also help if the SA tech private sector would stop ripping us off every chance they get.

[FNfal]

Well he must start to connect those 120,00 buildings .
"He called on government to invest more in broadband in SA and highlighted the initiatives by the Australian government to invest significantly ($37.4billion) in a National Broadband Network project to provide high-speed fibre optic cable broadband to 93% of homes, schools and businesses by 2021".
So if it is going to take Ausrealia until 2021 to connect 93% of homes ,how long will this government take

[wily me]

the Australian government to invest significantly ($37.4billion) in a National Broadband Network project to provide high-speed fibre optic cable broadband to 93% of homes, schools and businesses by 2021.

Pule will probably have 10Mbps to 10% of this country by 2040 as corruption and feeding at the ANC trough is more important.

[portcullis]

This makes me sick to my stomach.

It's obviously a slow news day at MBB. Why else would they only publish this weeks after the Conference?

But whatever their reasons, the damage is done and now the industry has to deal with the fallout.

I can sit behind this keyboard all afternoon, ranting and raving, but instead of doing that, I am going to ask one simple question:

Why does DFA want to charge us more to get 155Mb of IP from Teraco to our data centre in Somerset West than AfricaINX charge for that same 155Mb of data delivered internationally to Teraco?

And for those who are interested: Leasing a fibre pair (unlit) from DFA on a 3 year basis will cost about R6.75/m/month or about R256k per month (based on a straight line distance of 38km). This excludes an installation fee of R38k. 155Mb of tier-1 IP costs R177K a month from AfricaINX.

Maybe that explains DFA's 5% uptake. Once DFA start getting realistic with their pricing, the demand for their services will increase.

[borga]

+1

It really is amazing what South Korea and Japan have been able to pull off in the last 50 years. A "can-do" attitude is exactly what is needed in SA. It would also help if the SA tech private sector would stop ripping us off every chance they get.

As per Wikipedia
Japan Population density - 337.1/km2
South Korea Population density - 491/km2
USA Population density 33.7/km2
South Africa Population density - 42.4/km2

Having a high population density makes it cheaper to create high bandwidth for all citizens, which is why Japan and Korea have far greater internet speeds than say USA even though the US economy is much larger.

[CeeBee]

:-) while the majority of people are still being offered 384Kbps or if they're lucky, 1Mbps, advertised as "fast", "broadband", ... and accept it,... whether they don't know better, or whether there really isnt better option for them, i guess, the move to much faster will be slow.
But, at least the prospects these days are, that "fast" meaning faster than 1Mbps are looking better than ever... we may just get there soon...
the costs offered are still a bigger obstacle than the technology available.

[The Trutherizer]

lol You know a good friend of mine originally from Europe says her parents pay 2.5euros for uncapped fiber, 4000 digital TV channels and a free voip telephone service with a free handset. And I can tell you the country is not suffering because of it. SAs telco industry as well as the DoC which is so dead set on being a player in the market (wtf?!!! right) are all to used to a high margin industry here. They know completely free and fair competition will drive a market where the consumer will benefit (ALL consumers no matter how poor), but they hold on for dear life to their ridiculous profits through some rather dirty tactics.

People suppressing people for their own gain. Tale as old as time.

[inferno]

While they are at it, they must increase our salaries, remove all tax and give us each a speedboat. Why? Because as residents of small third world african country where people struggle to feed themselves, we're entitled to it.

[Knyro]

As per Wikipedia
Japan Population density - 337.1/km2
South Korea Population density - 491/km2
USA Population density 33.7/km2
South Africa Population density - 42.4/km2

Having a high population density makes it cheaper to create high bandwidth for all citizens, which is why Japan and Korea have far greater internet speeds than say USA even though the US economy is much larger.

You're missing the point, this isn't about internet speeds, it's about the low-standards and the "we're too poor" attitude South Africans have.

Tick was pointing out how countries like South Korea, who were dirt poor and had an economy based on agriculture, were able to rocket to becoming technological superpowers in virtually no time at all. Faster internet speeds are just one manifestation of an advanced economy. They proved what can be done with the right attitude. Your post proves his point about South Africans making continually making excuses for mediocrity.

Also you contradict yourself with your population density argument, by your logic we should have cheaper bandwidth than the USA because we have a higher population density. There are more factors than that. The SA tech private sector continually ripping us a new one plays its part.