STAATSKOERANT, 24 JANUARIE 2014
No. 37261
service obligations, community service obligations, network rollout obligations, community
service telephones and broadcasting obligations.
9.2.5 Other measures
There have been initiatives by provincial government and municipalites to increase access to
services, such as the erstwhile Gauteng Online project and the deployment of fibre optic
networks by various municipalities. According to the SADC guidelines, as Internet and
broadband access begin to fall within the scope of universal access definitions and targets,
public-private partnerships are moving beyond just network operators and government to
include equipment suppliers, vendors, manufacturers, academics, civil society and
communities.
9.3 Current Institutional Arrangements Driving Universal Service and Access
The responsibility for universal access and service is currently shared among different
government agencies. The Department of Communications is responsible for the policy
framework and has played a critical role in the community radio space as indicated in the
chapter on broadcasting. ICASA, USAASA and the MDDA are the main players in terms of
implementing government policy and legislation on UAS. The roles of each of these
institutions are explained in more detail in Chapter 12.
9.4 Access gap analysis
An important step in extending universal access to under-serviced areas is identifying
access gaps at national, provincial and local government level. In 2013, USAASA undertook
an access gap study to inform a national strategy on UAS. With regard to basic 2G mobile
voice telephony, the study found that existing gaps are quite small, and the areas that
appear to be outside the market frontier are limited to a few provinces. The analysis
indicates that commercial operators should be able to expand their coverage to reach a
large majority of those locations and population centres where 2G service is not yet fully
available. Moreover, where there are other non-economic barriers that have impeded
network development they should be addressed on a case-by-case basis.
The study further found that in areas where there are significant access gaps in the 2G
mobile market, the main factor driving these gaps is a combination of the income level of the
local population and a reluctance of operators to roll out their network to areas they deem
unviable. Such areas include various small settlements, dispersed population groups, and
sparsely settled areas that may not have mobile network coverage.
Insofar as 3G mobile broadband is concerned, the market has been able to deliver services
to a greater section of the population and continues to do so. The picture for public
broadband access on the other hand is one with challenges and opportunities. Current
coverage of broadband network access at the local level is in the range of about 50% of the
country. According to USAASA, the exact number of towns and villages in which some form
of public broadband is available - whether in schools, in Multi-Purpose Community Centres
(MPCCs) or other public centres - is difficult to specify, but it appears likely that some such
facilities are available in about half the population centres of the country, at least at the local
municipality level. Moreover, it appears that there is room for the market to expand such
public broadband coverage to at least another 25% of the country.
The study observes that in examining the underlying factors influencing the size and cost of
these gaps, it is evident that backbone network connectivity has the most significant
influence on the market status. To deliver any broadband level service at the local municipal
level requires a high capacity backbone connection into each location. Where fibre optic
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