Tech mogul Elon Musk alongside Steve Wozniak, tech expert Stuart Russell and Yoshua Bengio have signed an open letter calling for a six-month pause…
Roll on broadband
from my column in the media, called net savvy If a survey by search engine Google is to be believed, the British apparently now…
Internet useage in Africa: Top countries
It’s time to wake up, Telkom.
Here are the top ranking internet countries in Africa by internet hosts. I got this from Arthur Goldstuck’s comprehensive report, which you can get on his website.
Shows that, as a continent, we have a lot to catch up still. Thankfully the consensus is that South Africa is now set for more expansion, although expensive telecoms are still holding us back. A new challenger to the fixed line monopoly Telkom has been licensed but that is going to take a while to get up and ready and competitive. Broadband is beginning to make an impact here — but again it is expensive (thanks Telkom and cellphone companies).
At one stage South Africa was ranked 11th in the world, but we lost ground as a result of the cost of internet here which ranks among the highest in the world — it’s a wonder that South Africa, despite this, is still by far the top internet country in Africa.
Hopefully Telkom and the cellphone companies will wake up and realise how important ICT is for development of this country. They hopefully will realise that they can make profits without profiteering. South African cell companies (along with our banks who have amongst the highest charges in the world) rank among the most profitable in the world and appear to have so much excess cash that they are aggressive multinationals, moving into countries all over Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere. It’s great for the country, but what about the South African consumer and economy. Give us a break.
Top African internet countries (by internet hosts)
Cocking Up Convergence
Let’s start with the good news. We have a Convergence Bill. It has good intentions. It aims to promote the growth, diversity and the…
