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Saturday, 8.02.2025
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Breitband

  • ZA: Gauteng Department of Finance Prioritise On Reliable ICT Systems

    The Gauteng Department of Finance (GDF) has intensified its efforts towards ensuring that Gauteng becomes a smart and connected City Region, in order to bridge the digital divide. The GDF was allocated a budget of R985 million for the 2013/14 financial year.

    The bulk of these resources will be appropriated towards realising the GPG's ICT Strategic Outcomes, in order to drive ICT transformation initiatives in the province.

    To date significant milestone have been achieved towards the provision of reliable Information Communications Technology (ICT). In this regard, over 99.86% uptime availability of the GPG's Wide Area Networks (WAN) has been achieved.

  • ZA: Gauteng wants broadband

    The delivery of universal access to information for Gauteng residents is uppermost on the provincial government's priority list.

    Speaking at the Gauteng ICT summit today, finance MEC Mandla Nkomfe said broadband is the superhighway that could actualise this aspiration.

    "That is why we have embarked upon an ambitious project to implement this solution, which will be underpinned by the utilisation of a variety of networks and devices."

  • ZA: Johannesburg shows Africa is getting smarter about connectivity

    The City of Johannesburg is nearing the point of extensive enhanced broadband connectivity and is closer to acquiring the status of ‘Smart City’, a first in Africa claim organisers. The large-scale project is in the final stages of the construction phase.

    BWired, The City of Johannesburg and Ericsson South Africa have collaborated to form the Johannesburg Broadband Network Project (JBNP), a 1.2 Terabyte capacity foundation and the backbone established to support the realisation of the ‘Smart City’ concept.

  • ZA: Minister moves to cut broadband prices

    The government wants to drastically reduce the cost of broadband internet use through the introduction of more competition, Communications Minister Dina Pule says.

    Opening the ICT Indaba Africa Conference in Cape Town yesterday, Pule said most of the new growth in data access could be attributed to the rise in the number of broadband subscribers using hand-held devices such as smartphones.

    She said the number of mobile broadband subscribers grew by 31% in 2011 to reach 4.2million.

  • ZA: New 'Bandwidth Barn' to Connect Townships to the World 5 September

    The successful Bandwidth Barn concept is heading for the townships, signalling a major boost for the Western Cape's ICT entrepreneurs.

    Alan Winde, Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Tourism, said the Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism was investigating sites for a Bandwidth Barn in the townships and had already inspected potential sites in Nyanga and Khayelitsha.

  • ZA: Rural areas ‘in need of connectivity’

    The Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) understands the importance of delivering educational services to rural and underserviced areas using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs).

    ISPA is still finding that there is a huge need for affordable broadband services accessible from these schools. Furthermore, according to ISPA’s Regulatory Advisor, Dominic Cull, there remains a massive amount of work to be done. “We are moving from an access challenge to an affordability challenge. The role of the Universal Service Agency of SA (USAASA) and the Universal Service Access Fund (USAF) in meeting this challenge remain critical,” he says.

  • ZA: Step forward for universal broadband

    Another 20 million South Africans will be able to connect to the Internet, as subsidised decoders for the poorest of the poor will have built-in USB or network access points.

    The Department of Communications' decision that subsidised set-top boxes – needed for digital TV migration – must have return paths will put modems in five million homes, potentially expanding the Internet's reach to over 50% of South Africans.

    As a result, at least 20 million more people will be able to plug in an Internet connection, opening up opportunities for entrepreneurs to target a new market, and expansion of e-government e-services.

  • ZA: The DA’s broadband, Internet plans

    Affordable, reliable and efficient internet must be available to all South Africans, the DA said

    The Democratic Alliance (2014) released its 2014 election manifesto today, which states that the party plans to establish a new regulatory framework for the ICT sector to ensure that broadband capacity improves, that prices fall and that the internet becomes accessible to all.

    The DA said that new information and communication technologies continue to break down traditional boundaries between people, businesses and nations by making it easier to engage, to exchange information, to transact and to deliver services.

  • ZA: We must connect the missing middle

    Increased broadband connectivity has a meaningful and direct impact on the economic prospects of individuals, communities and countries at large. A World Bank study estimated that a 10% increase in broadband penetration in low and middle-income countries can result in a 1,38% increase in economic growth.

    At home, Statistics SA’s General Household Survey released in December last year found that 8,3% of households in South Africa had access to the internet via copper or fibre. This is not to say that the rest of the country is not interested in connecting – the same survey found that almost two thirds of South Africans access the internet via a mobile connection.

  • Zentralafrika: Breitband kostet drei Jahresgehälter

    "Mobiltelefonie und Internet haben das Leben in Afrika revolutioniert"

    Der Zugang zu Breitbandtechnologien ist in afrikanischen Ländern am teuersten. Verglichen mit dem Einkommen kostet ein Monat Breitband laut aktuellen UN-Zahlen in der Zentralafrikanischen Republik mehr als drei durchschnittliche Jahresgehälter. Mit Äthiopien, Malawi, Guinea und Niger führen weitere afrikanische Staaten die Liste an. Zum Vergleich: In den USA müssen Leute gerade einmal 0,5 Prozent ihres Monatsgehalts für einen Breitbandzugang ausgeben. In den meisten europäischen Ländern liegen die Kosten nur unweit höher.

  • ZM: ICT growth, competitiveness dependent on fibre optics

    Government says the growth and competitiveness of information and communication technology (ICT) will be dependant on creating a strong backbone by highly supporting the use of fibre optics.

    Minister of Communications and Transport Geoffrey Lungwangwa said the introduction of fibre optics in Zambia is one measure that is aimed at easing the use of ICTs.

    He was speaking at the Fibre Optics Association (FOA) seminar held at Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka on Friday.

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