South Africa aimed to double its mobile broadband coverage to 80% of the population by 2019, Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Siyabonga Cwele said, adding that the government sought to reduce the high cost of communications.
According to a World Bank report released in February, South Africans pay about R213.50 for one gigabyte of data - the fourth-highest out of 17 African countries - compared to lowest-rated Cameroon, where the same bundle cost about R32.
Cwele said a new telecoms policy would seek to boost competition and increase growth.
"It will reduce barriers to entry by moving away from monopolistic infrastructure-based competition, to open access broadband networks," Cwele told parliament.
Five major telecoms firms - including mobile phone operators MTN, Vodacom and Cell C - account for about 70% of the market.
A new policy on spectrum would help consumers by increasing choice and reducing internet costs, Cwele said. Free Wi-Fi services were being rolled out across the country. But connecting the entire country with broadband would cost R67-billion.
Cwele also said the SA Post Office urgently required R3.7-billion. "I am confident that the CEO (Mark Barnes) will soon finalise a domestic syndicated loan facility towards the required funding."
The Post Office is focused on financial services and trying to develop e-commerce.
Barnes said the firm had R1.8-billion of indications of interest out of the R2.7-billion of new debt, but no deal had been signed yet.
"I would expect we are weeks away (from signing a deal)," Barnes said.
In April, Barnes said he expected the company to return to profit in 2018. Workers at Sapo staged a two-day strike on Thursday and Friday over wages dating back to 2014. The workers have since suspended the action and given the company more time to meet their demands.
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