Abstract
Expanding universal access to broadband is the goal of telecommunications ministries and regulators worldwide. The developing world has lagged developed nations in meeting these goals, especially owing to delays in allocating high-demand spectrum. South Africa is one such nation that has been impaired by protracted delays in awarding high-demand spectrum in International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) bands IMT700, IMT800, IMT2600 and IMT3500. The study explores the effect that the delay in awarding has had on universal access with a specific focus on the price of broadband services, quality of service and broadband penetration rates. A qualitative case study with descriptive analysis is conducted that compares South Africa to Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya and Germany with respect to the three variables.
The central hypothesis of the paper is that the delay in awarding high demand spectrum has inhibited South Africa from increasing universal access to broadband services. The paper seeks to understand in particular how the delay has affected mobile broadband data prices, penetration rates and the quality of broadband services. The paper concludes that delay in awarding high demand broadband spectrum has indeed compromised South Africa’s goals of making broadband more accessible. There is evidence that the price of mobile broadband has remained high while broadband penetration rates have continued to improve despite the delay in awarding spectrum. The cross-country comparison reveals that the quality of mobile broadband services also tends to improve as more spectrum is awarded.