Abstract
The focus of this thesis is to investigate the barriers to broadband access and penetration in
rural areas. While rural areas in general are covered, particular focus is placed on rural areas in
South Africa. These barriers have been identified as “Accessibility”, “Affordability” and
“Sustainability”, and have been posed as the main research problem statements to be addressed
by this thesis. Based on the outcome of this investigation, the goal is to recommend a feasible
broadband solution that would best suit inhabitants in rural areas. This is informed by the fact
that there is a disparity in broadband access and penetration trends between rural and urban
areas, globally. The attributes to this disparity range from topology, population density,
displacement from internet backbone infrastructure, as well as the quality and, in some cases,
the complete lack of enabling broadband infrastructure in rural areas. The rural communities
are also mainly characterized by poverty and unemployment, which poses a challenge with
respect to affordability of broadband services. This phenomenon has been dubbed the “Digital
Divide” and has become an agenda item on many international forums that deal with
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) developments. As a result, countries have
been called upon to develop their countries’ respective National Broadband Policies (NBPs),
the objective of which is to track the progress of the initiatives being implemented to bridge
this gap.
In line with the above-mentioned international endeavors, South Africa has developed its own
NBP called the South Africa Connect Policy, wherein targets are stipulated for universal
broadband penetration and access to the general public and government institutions alike.
These serve as a guideline for the work done in this thesis, as they are the benchmark for the
problem statement by the author. The outcome of this thesis is the development of a broadband
model which is recommended to be deployed as part of a community-owned broadband
network, to overcome the barriers to Internet access in rural areas. This is proposed to be
demonstrated using a Proof of Concept (PoC). The objective of this is to provide indicative
evidence of how the proposals will resolve the problem statement presented in this thesis.
Furthermore, the proposed broadband model is bespoke to the rural community in question and
seeks to address the social ills thereof. This is done through a collaborative effort between the
researcher and the community, as will be demonstrated throughout this document. This
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proposal is deemed to address the three above-mentioned barriers and is in line with the SA
Connect Policy.