Yes, the services might not be much good as yet, but they’re popping up more and more aren’t they? Providers left and right are creeping right out of the woodwork and launching uncapped 384K connectivity for R400 a month, ISPs who still cling to monthly limits are selling in the R30 to R70 per GB range and falling, and the actual access element is about to get a whole lot faster as fiber-to-the-kerb projects enter their final stages. It’s a revolutionary time for the Internet in SA.
But just why is any of this important, apart from the economic impact for we the already-committed internet user? Well there are more than these, but here are my top 5 reasons why cheap broadband could help our country.
Bridging the digital divide
One just needs to look North to know that falling too far behind technologically is a self-expanding, almost insurmountable problem with huge economic and political repercussions for the limping country. Broadband connectivity is currently the absolute linchpin of the perceived digital divide.
Sure we still face internal struggles with ubiquitous technology adoption. Large areas in which electricity simply isn’t available – nor running water for that matter. A poverty-wracked population which would never consider buying a laptop over food to survive. And a literacy level which doesn’t present the ideal starting platform.
But at least if we can remain in touch with international broadband speeds for minimal costs, the base of tech-savvy people will just continue to expand. Our mobile internet usage is exploding, new last-mile access techs are spreading like wildfire, international undersea cables are now a dime a dozen, where last month we had but one, and a limited one at that.
It’s enough to keep us on a level playing field in the information economy at least. And in the running for lucrative investment into scientific research projects...
Boosting the industry and economy
Sure, everyone knows all about the whole Dotcom bubble and all that. But the fully-fledged always-on broadband Web experience has given birth to whole new little niches within the greater tech industry growing and expanding into healthy, revenue-spinning organisations. Creating jobs, driving innovation, and generally giving things that nice shakedown needed to sustain a growth focus.
There really are business models we haven’t even dreamed up as yet, as we emerge from the shadow of an oppressive national data communications regime, with low-hanging fruit just waiting to be plucked. And since the market is entirely new, growth doesn’t have to come at the cannibalisation of old competitors, a trademark of markets with static growth curves.
Education, not just formal
There is simply an enormous amount of education to be found online, and not just e-learning content on traditional school subjects either. Typically this video-based content requires a big pipe to be effective, but there are also millions of magazines available, online encyclopedias, a veritable planet’s treasure worth of reading forsooth!
Broadband opens the door to all of that. Cheap broadband means that even those on shoestring budgets can, and will, access more of it, just for the sake of interest. That, is invaluable to our developing nation.
Improving access to next-gen services
There are also all sorts of services out there on the Web now, and I’m not just talking SaS (Software as a Service) platforms. Expanding e-government initiatives like SARS’ useful e-filing services for instance, imagine that spread to the licensing department, home affairs, municipalities in charge of water and electricity.
For small businesses, SaS providers offer massive advantages. Fully-fledged enterprise-class solutions to accounting problems, stock management, complete ERP packages, simply plug in that cheap broadband cable and your business can have all the competitive advantage it wants for a reasonable price – no costly installations, no R1-million minimum investment, no ongoing onsite technician bill.
The Internet (or global, instant communications) as a socio-political force
Finally, there’s the high-speed, ubiquitous internet as a political force in its own right. Currently small pockets of South Africans bicker largely amongst themselves about the state of democracy in our country, as do other nations (albeit in larger numbers) across the globe. The more widespread this truly free market of expression, ideas, and exasperation becomes, the more powerful it becomes as a tool to help guide and shape national policies, an extra channel through which the people’s voice can be heard.
As our country grows into its rightful place internationally these connections between our people themselves, and our people and the nations of the world, has the potential to be a powerful grounding force. News of corruption, scandals, oppression can be spread to interested ears at the speed of a shaft of light bouncing along a fiber-optic cable. Cover ups become more difficult or, at the very least, more costly, public buffoonery gets harder to get away with on a global scale, and the downtrodden have an uncensorable channel to get their stories out on. As the noose tightens around traditional media, the Internet could become the last bastion of truth-hunting with any efficacy.
Yes, the five reasons above are high-level rays of hope for the dreamers amongst us. Theoretically cheap, ubiquitous high-speed internet access provides for all of these needs. Of course, it does remain up to us, the users, to actually make use of the tools available to us. But the more of us there are who become true citizens of the digitally-built global village, the better position our country will be in.
---
Autor(en)/Author(s): Russell Bennett
Quelle/Source: MyBroadband, 08.03.2010
Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:
