• Survey of residents of eRhini• Survey focuses on the social impact of high

communications costs. • Social implications of people not being able

to participate fully in information society. • What is the human cost?• 100 residents surveyed over 1.5 day period• Focus groups ran with members of the

Unemployed People’s Movement

Fingo Village (oldest part of eRhini) Tantyi (second oldest part of eRhini) Hlalani informal settlement eRhini Extensions 4 and 8 (bonded houses) eRhini Extension 6 (mix of bonded and RDP

houses) Included a mix of older and newer sections

of eRhini

• 1. What phones do you have in your household?• 2. Are you on pre-paid or contract?• 3. What percentage of your household income do

you spend on these phones?• 4. What services do you use mainly and why do

you use these particular services (sms, voice calls, please call me, missed calls, data services such as internet on your cellphone)?

• 5. Do you think that the cost of handsets, rental and airtime for these phones is too cheap, too expensive, or affordable? Explain.

• 6. Has the cost of airtime affected your ability to communicate with important people in your life (eg. family, friends, employer or potential employer)? If so, then how?

• 7. Have there been particularly important things you have been unable to do owing to the cost of airtime? If so, what impact has this problem had on your life?

• 8. Do you feel that you get good quality of service for the amount of money you spend? Explain.

• 9. Next month, Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Communications is holding a public hearing on the cost of telecommunications. They are concerned that the costs are too high, especially when people use one service provider to phone someone using another service provider (eg. When someone uses a Vodacom package to phone a Telkom or MTN line). They want to reduce these costs. Do you agree or disagree with their proposal?

• 10. Are there specific proposals on the costs of telecommunications that you want to make to the Committee?

Type of service

ContractPrepaid

ITU ICT development index measures affordability of ICT’s – ICT price basket

Developed countries spent between 0-3 percent of gross national income (GNI) on ICT’s

Top 25 countries – 0.4 and 0.6 percent GNI Bottom 25 countries – 40-72 percent of GNI

(ITU 2009: 2) eRhini - 25.955 percent of GNI

Landlines virtually non existent – too expensive

Cellphones used mainly as receiving devices for calls (eg. prospective employer) and to send please call me’s

Cellphones not really used to converse Women most heavily affected (eg. Granny

left with 7 children, without any form of communication)

People unaware that they have right to affordable access to communications – ‘cost can’t be changed as it is “the law”’

People carrying cellphones at high risk of crime. Family then loses ability to communicate

R2 and R5 airtime bought mainly, but spaza shop markup affects affordability

Breakdown in family communication, leading to friction

Families use food money just to stay connected Frustrates ability to talk to officials Cannot call during emergencies Elderly may be stranded at home without any

means of communication Learners unable to make important calls about

study opportunities

Unemployed have missed job opportunities Inability to communicate is, “like a disease that will disable you to

reach a certain point in life because once you miss some opportunities in life they will never come back at least for as long as you live”

, Member of Unemployed People’s Movement.

Regulate airtime price through legislation, to make it affordable for pre-paid users

Regulate the spaza shop owners (50c to R1 markup)

There should be more off-peak hours Reduce retail price by 40-50% Investigate airtime price fixing Increase the weekend discount window

There should be discounts during the week Introduce free hours Adjustment in interconnection rates must

be done this year Decrease the rates for people dependent

on government grants Make phones user friendly for older people Reduce the cost of sms Make emergency calls free

2009 SA Development Indicators – according to the Knowledge based Economy Index, SA dropped from 49 in 1995 to 55 in 2008 out of 140 countries.

Report notes that other countries are advancing faster than SA on the four pillars of the knowledge-based economy, including ICT infrastructure

Bringing down communications costs - a national imperative

THANK YOU LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!

We would like to thank the following Rhodes students for in making this presentation possible:-

Tshepiso Nzayo, Sbonelo Mgilane, Luzuko Buku, Siviwe Gwarube, Lubabalo Dada, Azwi Mufamadi, Simphiwe Kanityi and Pumeza Mdangayi.

Castells, M; Fernandez-Ardevol, M, and Sey, A. 2007. Mobile communication and society: a global perspective. Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Mǿller, V. Living in Rhini: a 2007 update on the 1999 social indicators report. Research report series No. 14. Institute for Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, April 2008.

University Service and Access Agency of South Africa. Notice in terms of s. 82(3) and sections 88(2), (3) and (4) of the Electronic Communications Act, 2005 (Act No. 36 of 2005) inviting written representations in respect of the definitions of universal service, universal access, and underserviced areas and determinations of needy persons. Government Gazzette. NO. 31333

Photo’s were obtained from living in Rhini report.

Maps were obtained from Google maps.

Report and presentation compiled by: