Will Africa see real broadband beyond the hype?

Broadband, or rather the lack of it is fast becoming the new digital divide. This is the view of Transtel CTO, Angus Hay. Hay believes the divide between Africa and the rest of the world is already evident. Of the more than 100-million broadband connections in the world, Africa only has 200 000. South Africa alone could probably only account for a quarter of these, at most. Transtel's CEO, Karl Socikwa, speaking at the Africa Telecom 2004 conference earlier this year also highlighted the difference between our definition of broadband with what is the norm overseas: "In South Africa it is 512Kb, but in the rest of the world, users are getting speeds of around 10Mb." Even with the launch of wireless products such as Sentech's MyWireless, Socikwa maintains that "true broadband access is and will remain a fixed network phenomenon". 'The Goldstuck Report: Internet Access in South Africa 2004' provides insight into total Internet penetration in this country. Approximately 3.5 million South Africans have access to the Internet (or 1 in 13). Conventional dial-up access passed the million connection mark two years ago. Research outfit Ovum predicts that by 2009 there will be 1.8-million broadband users in SA.