State under fire for lack of progress in telecoms
The heads of two organisations working to enhance telecomunications services say the government’s poor policies of slow liberalisation and too much state control have kept prices high and services scarce in some areas. The failures have created an unacceptable situation where some schools do not even have a telephone, let alone internet access, the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry was told yesterday.
“Managed liberalisation was an absolute failure,” said Cassandra Gabriels, chairwoman of the Universal Service and Access Agency SA.
Gabriels said managed liberalisation was designed to protect Telkom, but it failed to make the operator serve poor and rural areas.
Paris Mashile, chairman of the Independent Communications Authority of SA, agreed that Telkom had been allowed to become a “dinosaur” that would struggle now that it faced competition. Moreover, about 40 companies licensed by the Department of Communications to offer services in rural areas had been “led up the garden path” by muddled policies and a lack of funding, he said.
Lack of telecoms progress – who do you think is to blame?
Loading ...