31 October 2024

The South African government has revealed plans to close the connectivity coverage gap in rural areas as a key initiative to empower poorer communities and stimulate economic growth.

South Africa’s Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi, announced a two-part strategy to enhance connectivity. The first involves the need to lower regulatory hurdles for companies to invest in affordable and reliable broadband. Secondly, he called for the prices of 4G and 5G devices to be reduced, making them more accessible.

Malatsi issued a policy directive to ICASA, clarifying his department’s position on the recognition of equity equivalent programmes, for urgent consideration. He explained that, due to the global nature of multinational firms, their ability to comply with “equity ownership requirements” is constrained.

“Giving millions of South Africans access to broadband would therefore constitute one of the biggest empowerment programmes the South African government has ever undertaken,” said Malatsi.