The South African workforce says the accelerated shift to a hybrid working model in the past two years has heightened the need for affordable connectivity, regardless of location.
This is one of findings in the 2022 Cisco Broadband Index, which provides global workforce insights on access to internet services.
The global survey consists of almost 60 000 workers across 30 markets, including South Africa, indicating their home broadband access, quality and usage, economic and societal growth.
Local respondents (68%) believe affordability of connecting to reliable broadband will become a headache for the population, with 67% saying broadband should be provided free of charge.
The respondents are particularly concerned for low-income families, as 86% of workers believe this group is being priced out of getting online.
Furthermore, 71% state internet services cost too much, and about 68% say they would be willing to pay more for a safer broadband connection.
Says Charmaine Houvet, Cisco government affairs director: “The pandemic has shown us the true value of access. Citizens are increasingly saying that access to the internet must be considered a human right and that governments have a responsibility to ensure internet access is broadly available.”
South Africa’s cost to communicate has been the subject of much debate over the years, resulting in public outcry under the #DataMustFall movement. The country has also found itself on global lists of nations with unaffordable broadband connectivity.
This is compounded by the years-long delay in the release of high-demand spectrum.
South Africa’s imminent spectrum allocation will help mobile operators provide faster and more widespread high-speed data services. Other positive benefits of freed-up spectrum include reduced costs of data and voice communications.
The index shows that nine out of 10 workers, who perform their role entirely from home, and 89% of workers saying their job is hybrid, state broadband must dramatically improve if people are to work from anywhere.
They further highlight internet infrastructure as a great concern for the country’s growing number of hybrid and remote workers.
The local respondents (87%) agree that access to fast, reliable internet is critical to SA’s future economic growth.
A further 88% of workers feel speedy and stable networks are vital to develop a well-educated and informed population.
“Secure, high-quality, reliable internet is critical to make hybrid work successful,” notes Jonathan Davidson, executive vice-president and GM for the Mass-Scale Infrastructure Group at Cisco.
Some 86% of respondents would like to see the national infrastructure plans sped-up to meet growing demand.
A total of 63% of respondents say they were unable to access critical services such as online medical appointments, online education, social care and utility services during lockdown, due to an unreliable broadband connection.
More than half (52%) of respondents say they will seek to upgrade their service in the next 12 months, but of those who won’t, 16% believe it’s too expensive to do so.
“For three in 10 (30%) respondents, speed of their domestic connection is a pain, with this proportion saying it is only average or weak. Meanwhile, 23% grade the reliability of their home broadband service as average or poor.”
According to the respondents, household connectivity is under pressure, with 60% saying at least three people under their roof are active online simultaneously throughout the day. “This is key when factoring in the 65% of respondents who say they either do their job or run their business from home.
“Furthermore, demand is set to grow, with 57% of workers overall claiming their household’s internet activity will increase or stay the same during the next year.”
On the South African government front, enabling universal access to broadband has been a key feature, with the state setting itself a target to close the digital divide by 2024.
Communications minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni revealed last year that government was reviewing its plans to ensure all South Africans have access to connectivity at home.
Ntshavheni last week stated government is working to ensure “every South African household – despite being rich or poor, employed or unemployed – will have access to 10 gigabytes per month”.
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