R329/month for 40Mbps: ICASA

Launching their Cost to Communicate programme with a bang, general manager of markets and competition at Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), Pieter Grootes announced that we should be paying around R329 per month for 40 megabits per second (Mbps) broadband.

“It sounds unbelievable, but it exists,” Grootes said, explaining that they aren’t pulling the figure out of a hat.

According to Grootes, a startup in the heart of Johannesburg in the Maboneng district already offers services at this price level.

“If a startup can do it, why can’t the rest of us?” asked Grootes.

ICASA’s Cost to Communicate programme will encompass a broadband value chain study, a re-assessment of mobile termination rates, local loop unbundling, and broadcasting regulations.

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