The ‘Real’ broadband challenges
Speaking at the recent BMI-T Digital Cities Forum, Neotel strategist Angus Hay said that there are a few ‘real broadband challenges’, including access to ‘good’ international bandwidth, having acceptable contention ratios and ensuring the availability and efficient use of spectrum.
International bandwidth
To ensure high speed, low latency broadband services, ample international bandwidth at reasonable rates is paramount. Hay said that while South Africa is currently hamstrung by a monopolistic environment which equates into high prices, some exciting projects are in the pipeline which will change this situation.
One of these projects, namely SEACOM, promises a capacity of 1.2 Tbps and is tipped to be the first cable system to rival SAT-3.
SEACOM has however come under fire from the Department of Communications (DoC) lately, with Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri intimating that the cable may not be permitted to land in South Africa.
Hay however says that he is confident that SEACOM will be able to land in South Africa, especially since the project is majority African owned.
Improved contention ratios
Hay further said that broadband providers are very reluctant to release true contention ratios – most likely because they do not fall within international norms. While some providers disclose their local contention ratios, it is not easy to establish the ratios they use for international bandwidth.
Unless these contention ratios fall within acceptable limits the end user experience can diminish significantly, especially during business hours.
The advertised access speeds, typically 1 Mbps and higher in South Africa, can become insignificant if adequate bandwidth is not made available on the backend of a broadband network.
Recent complaints by local broadband users about poor throughput are a strong indication that some local providers may indeed not provision adequate international bandwidth.
Good use of spectrum
Proper spectrum allocation and management from ICASA can go a long way to help improve broadband provisioning in South Africa.
Hay points out that this, coupled with spectral efficiency, is an important ingredient for a successful broadband environment like South Africa where wireless services are becoming the primary access method.
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