In a recent letter to ICASA and the Ministry of Communications, the Online Publisher’s Association (OPA) called for an urgent meeting with government representatives to discuss the high cost of bandwidth in South Africa. The Internet Society believes reducing the costs of bandwidth is imperative to stimulate the growth of Internet usage.

Government should become actively involved in making this a reality. The true cost of bandwidth is clear from the dramatic slow-down in growth of Internet users in South Africa.

According to the annual Internet Access in South Africa report by World Wide Worx, an independent research company, growth slowed down to 6% in 2003. For 2004, World Wide Worx forecasts an increase to 3.68 million Internet users from 3.28 million at the end of 2003.

At the current rate of growth, we will only have 1 in 10 people with Internet access by 2006.

Read the full report here