KICK THE DOOR DOWN
The director of an education group is so fed up with high telecom prices, outdated legislation and limited infrastructure, he’s developing wireless networks for poor rural communities even though he doesn’t have a licence.
Rael Lissoos, director of education group Viko, says he didn’t set out to break the law when he began developing Internet networks. He just wanted to prove it was possible to provide a cheap telecom service to rural schools.
Technically, Lissoos should have applied for a value-added network service licence. But because the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) doesn’t have a licensing procedure for wireless networks, Viko has been left operating in a grey area.
Alan Levin, chairman of the Internet Society of SA, is not surprised there are companies prepared to operate on the fringe of the law when it comes to proving a wireless service to the poor.
At current telecom prices, he says, “there is no economic model that can bring the Internet to poor people".
Levin believes the high cost of telecom access is more than a burden on business, it’s locking poor people out the economy.
While low telecom prices make it possible for developing countries like Bangladesh to have Internet cafés in poor neighbourhoods, only 25% of South Africans have had any kind experience with the Internet.
Though Telkom has committed itself to increasing its Internet infrastructure rapidly, Levin doesn’t expect the development to focus on underdeveloped areas, given Telkom’s poor track record in expanding its fixed-line telephone network.
The number of fixed-line subscribers has remained almost unchanged at below 5m since 1996, even though Telkom, in exchange for an extension of its monopoly, was mandated by government to install lines in underserviced areas.
In a report released this week, the SA Foundation says government’s policy for providing telecom services to the poor is ill designed. “At this point, what is needed is a complete review," says researcher James Hodge of Genesis Analytics, which compiled the report for the SA Foundation.
Government recognises this. Deputy minister of communications Roy Padayachie points out that the cost of digital subscriber lines, which allow fast Internet access, is “several times that of Brazil and Egypt", and must come down.
Wireless networks like those operated by Viko could be the answer.
Lissoos doesn’t believe that government, Icasa or Telkom will attempt to shut down Viko’s networks, as they are in isolated parts of the country and are there to help poor people.
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