FOR the past two years, President Thabo Mbeki’s annual state of the nation address has raised SA’s high telecommunications prices as one of the key challenges facing the economy.
In 2005, the president said he believed that the “unacceptable situation” in which some of SA’s fixed-line rates were 10 times those of developed countries would soon become a thing of the past. This would be achieved by taking “bold steps” to further liberalise the telecommunications industry.
Last year, he spoke about telecoms costs in relation to the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative (Asgi-SA). Not only did telecoms infrastructure need to be expanded and modernised, but costs would have to be tackled if planned interventions in targeted industries such as tourism, chemicals and agriculture were to be a success.
With the president due to deliver his 2007 state of the nation address in the coming weeks, sadly little has changed on the telecoms price front. Granted, the second phone operator — Neotel — has finally kicked off. This was a landmark event as it was a step forward in government’s long-awaited liberalisation strategy. But it is already clear that Neotel will not make a real impact on prices in the short or medium term. It has neither the financial muscle nor the infrastructural reach to do so. Far more will have to be done on the competition front if there is to be a significant fall in telecoms prices any time soon.....
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/opinion.aspx?ID=BD4A361458
In 2005, the president said he believed that the “unacceptable situation” in which some of SA’s fixed-line rates were 10 times those of developed countries would soon become a thing of the past. This would be achieved by taking “bold steps” to further liberalise the telecommunications industry.
Last year, he spoke about telecoms costs in relation to the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative (Asgi-SA). Not only did telecoms infrastructure need to be expanded and modernised, but costs would have to be tackled if planned interventions in targeted industries such as tourism, chemicals and agriculture were to be a success.
With the president due to deliver his 2007 state of the nation address in the coming weeks, sadly little has changed on the telecoms price front. Granted, the second phone operator — Neotel — has finally kicked off. This was a landmark event as it was a step forward in government’s long-awaited liberalisation strategy. But it is already clear that Neotel will not make a real impact on prices in the short or medium term. It has neither the financial muscle nor the infrastructural reach to do so. Far more will have to be done on the competition front if there is to be a significant fall in telecoms prices any time soon.....
http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/opinion.aspx?ID=BD4A361458