When will we get decent bandwidth? When will data prices come down? These are some of the most common questions about communications in South Africa.
The reason we seldom get answers is that the questions are wrong. They do not take into account the many nuances of connectivity and cost. In particular, they ignore the fact that, if you have the means to buy large bundles, costs have come down dramatically; if you are in the right location and have the means to pay for decent connectivity, bandwidth can be magnificent.
The real issues are about distribution of bandwidth, availability of new forms of connectivity and high costs for the poor. The latter typically use data on an ad hoc basis and usually see it coming off their airtime at some of the highest prices in the world. No amount of cajoling by mobile operators will move people to buying bundles when these simply do not fit into their budgets.
In many cases, the responsibility lies at the door of these operators. They rarely appreciate their responsibility to make communications affordable to the poor, and fight tooth and nail against efforts to remove unnecessary costs like interconnect fees.
However, there is one area where government is solely culpable, and where it seems intent on extending culpability. The licensing of new connectivity technologies and the allocation of radio spectrum for telecommunications represent one of its great failures over the past decade.
It has failed to meet numerous deadlines for migration from analogue to digital TV, meaning the country has yet to benefit from the digital dividend: the freeing up of large swathes of spectrum that is ideal for high-speed connectivity. It has failed to allocate existing spectrum that lies unused, meaning operators have had to "refarm" less efficient spectrum to roll-out 4G connectivity.
Now government wants to take us even further backward. It is moving ahead on the Electronic Communications Amendment Bill, the culmination of its 2016 information and communication technologies policy white paper. It proposes the creation of a Wireless Open Access Network (WOAN), a government-controlled entity that will own or manage all spectrum, and from which mobile operators will have spectrum allocated at its behest. One argument is that this will enable new players to enter the market, increase competition and bring down prices.
This may appear consistent with the idea that spectrum is a finite resource that must be carefully managed to make communications affordable.
However, the logic is flawed.
It fails to take account of the massive investment that has gone into utilisation of spectrum: existing operators now pump something like R20-billion a year into infrastructure, aimed at improving quality, speed and access.
Removing already-allocated spectrum will imperil not only new investment, but hundreds of billions of rands in sunk costs. Holding back unallocated spectrum limits the ability of operators to provide decent bandwidth for all, as well as to turn improved efficiencies into lower costs.
The WOAN concept has not worked anywhere. In South Africa, it is almost guaranteed to increase the questions, rather than answer them.
• Goldstuck is the founder of World Wide Worx and editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za. Follow him on Twitter @art2gee and on YouTube..