South Africa will struggle to compete in the fourth industrial revolution if data prices remain high.
This was said on Thursday by Minister of Economic Development Ebrahim Patel.
“It is not just responding to the strong call and legitimate call of young people for data costs to fall.
“It is also recognising data will be a driver of many of the innovations that we’ll see in the 21st century economies and high costs will limit South Africa’s ability to play in this field.”
Patel spoke at the 11th Competition Law‚ Economics and Policy Conference hosted by the Competition Commission at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in Johannesburg.
The fourth industrial revolution includes new technology such as artificial intelligence‚ algorithms‚ 3D that is reliant on data.