Deputy communications minister Roy Padayachie met his Brazilian counterpart Helio Costa yesterday for talks that covered why South African telecommunications costs are twice that of the South American country.
The ministers met to discuss and compare the different telecoms regimes of their respective countries.
"Brazil is considered to be a key comparative country with SA and occupies a similar status in the same development band, yet telecoms costs in SA are twice that of Brazil. DSL 512 service is seven times more expensive than Brazil`s equivalent," says an official South African statement.
The ministers met during bilateral meetings of the International Telecommunication Union`s Telecoms Americas 2005 Regional Conference.
Delegates from various Latin American countries and other developing countries, such as India and China, are attending the conference.
The official statement says: "Confirming the need for vigorous and effective competition within the telecommunications sector, Brazil has three fixed-line operators and four mobile cellular companies. Telephony penetration rates over the last seven years have multiplied many-fold in Brazil. Fixed-line penetration increased from 11% to over 21.5%, or from 18 million to 42 million, and mobile penetration increased from 3%, or less than 5 million users, to 43%, or over 80 million users."
The meeting comes ahead of the second round of the telecoms pricing colloquium on 12 October, where industry and government are expected to formulate plans to reduce SA`s telecoms costs. Padayachie will chair the colloquium.
Investor-friendly telecoms
Commenting on the meeting, Padayachie conveyed the commitment of South African President Thabo Mbeki and the South African government to the India, Brazil, SA partnership.
He highlighted this country`s commitment to building an investor-friendly, competitive and thriving telecoms sector based on universal service, increasing access to basic telephony for all and productive returns for investors in the telecoms sector.
Padayachie outlined government`s approach to digital migration and the development of an appropriate policy framework that would accelerate provisions of high-speed broadband Internet uptake in SA.
He also highlighted of particular importance to both countries, the need for support for wireless technologies for rural and underserviced areas, as well as the need for appropriate regulation to support these new technology innovations to achieve the goal of universal service.
"Exposure to the innovative strategies and trends in telecoms development in Latin America will greatly assist our efforts to achieve a higher GDP growth rate from 3.8% to 6% in the coming years. An interesting feature of the trends is the introduction of low-cost technologies and low-cost end-user hardware solutions that are making digital inclusion a reality with the 'massification` of ICT services," Padayachie said.
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