Bigger is better

By Christelle du Toit, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 30 Jul 2007

Government will take an "ambitious" rather than "conservative" approach to improving SA's broadband capacity as it plans to lay another two submarine cables.

The country already has one high-capacity cable on the West Coast (SAT-3) and another, the Southern African Far East cable, running past Cape Town to Australia.

Several other cable projects are in the pipeline, including the East African Submarine Cable System (Eassy), a Seacom cable and a Telkom cable.

Briefing the press on the latest Cabinet lekgotla, on Sunday, Mbeki said government would opt for size when installing the two new lines on the West Coast.

"We are going to go for the biggest cable we can get," said Mbeki.

"The decision taken [at the lekgotla] with regard to broadband infrastructure is that we need to increase investment in this area."

Government's drive for more broadband is, according to Mbeki, motivated by large-scale scientific projects, such as the potential hosting of the Square Kilometre Area telescope, for which SA has been short-listed along with Australia.

Mbeki said SA will need "tremendous broadband capacity" in order to land the deal and that is part of the reason government wants to up its ICT game.

According to him, discussions about the two new fibre optic lines centre on where the cables will land.

"There is a major junction in the UK, which links cables from the US and the Far East - we could go there and link to the rest of the world in that way," said Mbeki.

"Or we could land in Brazil, which is a shorter route, and which then links to the US, completing the loop, but this is still under discussion."

The president said government would commission both these lines in time, but for now, had to decide which would be created first.

Is it enough?

Arthur Goldstuck, MD of World Wide Worx, says while government's plans to lay more fibre optic cables will improve broadband capacity, it does not automatically translate into better access for the general population.

"The biggest hurdle to accessibility remains the control by government and the limited regulatory framework," says Goldstuck.

"Investment needs to be accompanied by open competition. Government must stop paying lip service to open access and put into effect the policy it has stated as a guiding principle, which is access to all."