Affordable broadband for SA

2006-11-01 09:47

Donwald Pressly

Cape Town - The undersea telecommunications cable running down the west side of Africa was "at full capacity" and the planned eastern cable linking east African and southern African states was key to providing affordable broadband to ordinary South Africans, Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said on Tuesday.

Speaking in the National Council of Provinces, she said at the same time her department had set up an "unbundling the local loop committee" with the aim of expanding delivery and reducing prices.

This was the fixed line from a person's home to the landline network, she explained.

The expansion of mobile and fixed line broadband would make it easier for a person in a rural community to conduct banking online, for example, or for a patient's x-rays to be discussed by doctors in a number of different cities at the same time.

She also said the benefits of the second national operator, Neotel, would start to be felt around Christmas time.

- I-Net Bridge (News24)