Between Ntshavheni\u2019s two pronouncements, former public works minister Patricia de Lille tabled a plan to provide households with 50GB of free data<\/a> by the 2025\/26 financial year.<\/p>\n It set a short-term goal of providing 10GB of data by the 2023\/24 financial year \u2014 a deadline that passed in March.<\/p>\n As usual, there has been no progress on government\u2019s lofty broadband goals and requests for an update on the project have been met with silence<\/a>.<\/p>\n With President Cyril Ramaphosa appointing a new cabinet<\/a> at the end of June, a new Minister of Communications must now first find his feet before tackling the legacy baggage he\u2019s been saddled with.<\/p>\n In the meantime, South Africa\u2019s telecommunications industry has continued its work of rolling out and maintaining network coverage.<\/p>\n Between Vodacom and MTN, nearly 100% of the country\u2019s population has 2G coverage, while around 99% have 3G and 4G access.<\/p>\n Upstart wireless broadband provider Rain has launched 5G in several small towns where residential fibre networks may not yet reach.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, South Africa\u2019s fibre network operators are rolling out infrastructure beyond the country\u2019s affluent neighbourhoods and into dense, low-income urban townships.<\/p>\n Vumatel, an entirely private fibre player, has shown up the majority state-owned Telkom in this regard with its Vuma Reach and Vuma Key projects.<\/p>\n It helped pave the way for several other township initiatives by major fibre players and smaller operators, including Telkom\u2019s Openserve, Frogfoot, Metrofibre, eKasi Fibre, Isizwe, and Illitha Telecommunications.<\/p>\n Government, on the other hand, has seen its initiatives fail. Prominent examples are retail fixed wireless access provider Sentech MyWireless<\/a>, and national fibre network operator Broadband Infraco.<\/p>\n In addition, government actively frustrated industry efforts to provide broadband services, compete against Telkom, and drive down prices.<\/p>\n Patricia de Lille, former Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure<\/p><\/div>\n The ANC government\u2019s desire to control telecommunications in South Africa dates back to before 1993, when it threatened to revoke the cellular licences<\/a> granted to Vodacom and MTN as soon as it came to power.<\/p>\n According to a paper by Professor Robert Horowitz titled South African Telecommunications: History and Prospects<\/em>, the ANC believed the National Party government was unilaterally restructuring the telecoms industry \u2014 \u201ca form of privatisation through the back door\u201d.<\/p>\n The ANC also did not support the adoption of the GSM standard, but reportedly preferred the American Mobile Phone Standard (AMPS), and the old Scandinavian analogue system.<\/p>\n Had the ANC won its battle against the GSM standard, it may have set South Africa back many years.<\/p>\n Horowitz wrote that the battle over cellular licences and standards was eventually defused after former presidents Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk met over the issue.<\/p>\n In the end, the ANC agreed not to oppose the granting of the cellular licences, and in exchange, the NP government agreed to back down on planned amendments to the Post and Telecommunications Act.<\/p>\n Some years later, Telkom tried to convince the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Satra) that its state-sanctioned monopoly over voice services should extend to the Internet<\/a>.<\/p>\n Satra was the precursor to the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa.<\/p>\n Mercifully, Satra announced in 1997 that the Internet is an area of competition in terms of the Telecommunications Act.<\/p>\n However, this did nothing to address Telkom\u2019s almost total monopoly on fixed-line infrastructure.<\/p>\n The government granted Telkom an \u201cexclusivity period\u201d for five years from 1997 to 2002, during which time it had to prepare for competition that would explode onto the scene.<\/p>\n No competition to Telkom launched in 2002.<\/p>\n The so-called \u201csecond network operator\u201d only launched in August 2006 as Neotel (now Liquid<\/a>), bringing none of the residential fixed-line broadband competition South Africans were promised.<\/p>\n Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri<\/p><\/div>\n While government interference in the telecommunications sector has been plagued by failures, there have been a few notable successes.<\/p>\n Most important among these was replacing the Telecommunications Act with the Electronic Communications Act.<\/p>\n However, industry players still had to haul former communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri to court to enforce the rights granted under the new law.<\/p>\n In a 2008 ruling that became known as the \u201cAltech Case\u201d, licensed operators won the right to build their own networks.<\/p>\n Amid the legal battle, the late Matsepe-Casaburri also frustrated the landing of Seacom in South Africa.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/Patricia-De-Lille-1200-x-800.jpg\")
<\/a>Trying to kill Vodacom, MTN<\/h2>\n
Trying to monopolise the Internet with Telkom<\/h2>\n
![\"Ivy](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Ivy-Matsepe-Casaburri.jpg\")
<\/a>Liberalisation by litigation<\/h2>\n