Broadband in SA: On the brink of a boom

According to Neilson, Seacom, a cable carrying line that runs along the east coast of Africa should be operational from 2009. He said that it was ahead of the race and should emerge as the winner.

Neilson also noted that Seacom had simple ownership structures, supply and finance agreements in place, which was not the case with some of the other potential projects.

NVDL: South Africans have no idea what it is like living with broadband (in South Korea), and then returning to South Africa and not having broadband. Superfast internet access is like a cellphone to the traditional phone. Not having it is like having a home entertainment system with no remote control. Not nice.

clipped from business.iafrica.com According to Cisco South Africa Managing Director, Steve Midgley, South Africa is not far from joining the international community that has woken up to the benefits of broadband. Brink of a boom “South Africa is on the brink of entering a broadband boom,” he said. “This will change the way people live and work — giving the public sector and business the opportunity to gain significant efficiencies.” ITU telecom, a United Nations agency for information and communication technologies, says whilst broadband has been swift to take off in the developed world, Africa has been a different story. According to the agency, fixed line penetration is the lowest in the world, with only 2.8 percent at the end of 2002. This is in stark comparison with Europe's 41 percent.