Overview
- Examines the core issue of South Africa's telecommunications interventions.
- Presents definitive conclusions through an historical, case-study format.
- Provides an original contribution to the niche area of internet penetration and universal service and access.
Part of the book series: Information Technology and Global Governance (ITGG)
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
- Universal Access
- Universal Service
- International Telecommunication Union
- World Trade Organisation
- Office for Communications
- Ofcom
- Digital Divide
- Telecom Reform
- South Africa
- South Africa's ICT transition
- Policy Diffusion
- Policy Failure
- telecommunications
- telecomms
- technology in africa
- telephony
- internet
- access network
- SAPT
- apartheid
About this book
This book provides the first full account of the 20-year story of universal access and service in South Africa’s ICT sector. From 1994 the country’s first democratic government set out to redress the deep digital divide afflicting the overwhelming majority of its citizens, already poor and disenfranchised, but likewise marginalised in access to telephone infrastructure and services. By this time, an incipient global policy regime was driving reforms in the telecomms sector, and also developing good practice models for universal service. Policy diffusion thus led South Africa to adopt, adapt and implement a slew of these interventions. In particular, roll-out obligations were imposed on licensees, and a universal service fund was established. But an agency with a universal service mandate was also created; and licences in under-serviced areas were awarded. The book goes on to identify and analyse the policy success and failure of each of these interventions, and suggests some lessonsto be learned.
Reviews
“An original contribution to the fields of both politics, policymaking and telecommunication studies generally, and more specifically in the niche area of internet penetration and universal service and access…A wellresearched and consistently interesting study.”
—Victoria Graham, Associate Professor of Politics, Philosophy and International Studies, Monash University, South Africa
“The empirical analysis of these [policy] failures is arresting and important and is a substantial contribution to the scholarly field. I salute Dr. Lewis' powers of observation and analysis”
—Robert B. Horwitz, Professor of Education, the University of California, San Diego, USA“Regulating Telecommunications in South Africa is a shrewd, critical and engagingly written overview of the deep digital donga that separated ‘white’ and ‘black’ South Africa in the immediate aftermath of apartheid. Charley Lewis showcases his in-depth knowledge of universal access service initiatives around the world, their successes and failures and their impact on the South African regulatory environment. In this book, he manages to provide historical context for a topic that remains highly contentious in contemporary (South) Africa, and also succeeds in balancing local responses to global best practice in a manner that uplifts the voice of the resource poor without condescension. This is a master feat.”
—Viola C. Milton, Professor, University of South Africa, South Africa
“The detailed narrative and the development of universal access and service policy in relation to best practice norms is unprecedented...an extraordinarily detailed and rich discussion…”
—Ahmed Veriava, Lecturer in the Department of Political Studies, the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Charley Lewis is an independent analyst, researcher and educator, covering the broad field of ICT policy and regulation. A former high-school teacher, computer programmer, trade unionist, and, later, a university academic, he retains an abiding passion for universal access and service.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Regulating Telecommunications in South Africa
Book Subtitle: Universal Access and Service
Authors: Charley Lewis
Series Title: Information Technology and Global Governance
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-43527-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Political Science and International Studies, Political Science and International Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-43526-4Published: 11 June 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-43529-5Published: 11 June 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-43527-1Published: 10 June 2020
Series ISSN: 2946-3297
Series E-ISSN: 2946-3300
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVII, 347
Number of Illustrations: 4 b/w illustrations, 15 illustrations in colour
Topics: Public Policy, African Politics, Development Policy