Many people blame their mobile provider for dropped calls, poor reception, and slow Internet speeds, but unknown to them is that the government is partly responsible for many of these problems.<\/p>\n
With an increase in mobile\u00a0users\u00a0and the growing demand for data, cellular operators are forced to increase their network capacity.<\/p>\n
Increasing capacity happens in two ways: an increase in the available spectrum,\u00a0or\u00a0an increase in the number of cellular towers. The government creates a bottleneck in both avenues.<\/p>\n
Over the last decade mobile operators have begged the government for more spectrum, but this has come to nothing.<\/p>\n
The processes to hand out spectrum are\u00a0tied up in bureaucracy and government incompetence, which is costing South African consumers and the country dearly.<\/p>\n
With the lack of additional spectrum, mobile operators are forced to use the more costly option of rolling out additional towers. However, even here the government is keeping progress back.<\/p>\n