WACS the big deal?

So, the great journey has ended and the West African Cable System (WACS) has landed in SA.

Broadband needs to go rural in a big way and fast.

Farzana Rasool, journalist, ITWeb

It arrived in full glory, marked by bobbing buoys, proud investment members and curious onlookers at the shore of Yzerfontein, near Cape Town, yesterday.

There was much talk of WACS being Africa's largest-capacity cable and doubling SA's current broadband capacity, raising it by over 500Gbps.

But what does it all really mean?

The cable landed in Yzerfontein, creating a new landing point in SA. This effectively means that a third international fibre gateway has been created in the country. And what does this mean? Let me break it down.

There are currently two gateways in SA. One is in Melkbosstrand and one is in Mtunzini. The Melkbosstrand station houses the SAT-2, SAT-3 and SAFE cables, and Mtunzini holds the Seacom, Eassy and SAFE cables.

The three cables at each of the stations are in very close proximity to each other, meaning that in the case of a ship dragging its anchor or an earthquake or other natural disasters, all three cables will be cut or damaged.

Having a third gateway reduces the risk of SA becoming isolated from the rest of the world by having all its connectivity cut off. I'm sure I don't have to explain the serious economic impact of having all of the country's traffic stopped at once.

Ok, so we have more secure broadband connectivity and we also have faster speeds, but the big question is about the green stuff.

How much will prices drop?

They won't. Operators say the increased capacity won't result in a drop in broadband prices, because the costs of the new infrastructure that was put in place must first be recovered.

Even then, project managers will decide on pricing and the huge drop that SA so badly needs will not necessarily happen.

I don't have to tell you what that means. No increase in broadband penetration, because what WACS will ultimately result in is people who can already afford broadband seeing more bang for their buck.

The roughly 4% of SA's population is privileged enough to have access to broadband, and will be able to enjoy it even more and won't have to wait as long for pages to load after they release their clicks.

Fancy, but it's just not enough.

Broadband needs to go rural in a big way and fast.

There are 12 investors in WACS, including SA's Telkom, MTN, Vodafone, Broadband Infraco and Neotel.

They have done their part in collaborating to better SA's broadband connection. Coming together like the linked hands on an old lotto scratch card, the consortium partners have an open access policy in terms of the cable system, increasing fair play in the market.

The blues, reds, yellows and oranges of the industry have done their bit and also add to rural development through the Universal Access Fund so now it's time for the main flag-bearer to run with what's been done.

Government really needs to step up. Not only are the underprivileged in rural areas missing out on the information age, they're also getting left further and further behind.

This gap between the connected and the disconnected will only grow larger as the former's experience of broadband is made better and better, while the latter doesn't even have the experience in the first place.

This has got to be terrible for our already horrendous Gini coefficient. SA already has one of the worst scores in the world, which was 0.5 in 2009, according to the Presidency. The Gini coefficient is a number between zero and one, where zero corresponds with perfect equality.

The Department of Communications recently presented a draft ICT rural development strategic framework at the annual Information Society and Development forum.

Everyone who's tired of plans and talks and the lack of action that usually follows, please raise your hands... I thought so.

Government needs to urgently propel infrastructure development in rural areas and must focus on digital literacy.

The Universal Service and Access Agency's CEO, Phineas Moleele, also says a demand must be created for broadband in rural areas so people know what they're missing out on and will want it if they do eventually get it. He says the problem is there is no market for broadband and ICT in rural areas.

I say put the infrastructure in first, buddy. Get the people connected, show them how to navigate a page and send e-mails; and creating a demand won't be a problem.

And please find some way to drop the prices. No matter how much people want broadband and all its treasures, if they can't afford it, it's just a little tube of cables that runs for 14 500km, with no value for the bulk of SA's population.

If prices don't drop and connectivity isn't taken to rural areas, major achievements like WACS are difficult to see as anything other than a way for wealthy geeks to download games and movies at the speed of more than 8 000 DVDs, in 60 seconds.