News

In South Africa’s wide open and expansive geography, the majority of people live in cities. But elsewhere access to services such as Internet can be problematic. Fixed wireless internet helps small towns, farmers, communities and rural residents get stable, fast internet.

Our recent regional event at Polokwane on April 15, 2021, was one of our best attended. WAPA members came from several provinces to hear about the new regulatory changes in our sector, the impact of emerging satellite services, how to deal with the fibre challenge, how to cope with new threats in our unlicensed 5.8GHz spectrum, and TV white space opportunities. We know WISPs face significant challenges now. You have to deal with new regulatory requirements that may have a marked effect on your businesses. You face a whole raft of competitor businesses and rival technologies. And your markets are changing very quickly.

There are pros and cons to every type of Internet connectivity, so how are you supposed to know which is the best network for your work from home or to run a business? Choosing one can become difficult. There are five main types, but each has its own pros and cons, and they come with technical terms which for non-technical people can be a bit of a headache.

Lots of South Africans now work from home, there are hundreds of thousands of formal small businesses operating in the country and they employ around 4.2 million people, yet connectivity can be one of the many challenges they face as they try to stay afloat.

Getting a reliable connection isn’t what most people want to worry about right now. We’re already afraid of so much: losing income, being retrenched, contracting Covid-19, the economic effects of load shedding, the results of state capture, and a lot more besides.

To connect the rural unconnected to affordable internet is not so much a technical problem but more one of economics. For the large mobile operators, it is of no economic value to connect people who live away from the main rural highways in sparsely populated areas, even as a loss- leader project. TV WhiteSpace technology is the way forward.

“We’ve got a long history of working flat out for the industry. Probably the biggest benefit for most of the new WISPs is the training we offer, the regulatory advice from our specialist lawyers, and the forum for technical advice, because it helps them get their businesses up and running quickly and effectively,” says Karel Venter, deputy chair of WAPA and volunteer at the non-profit.

Decent broadband internet without fibre is too good to be true. Or is it? The sad reality for many South Africans is that they’ll never get access to fibre. Fibre needs a cable and can only be delivered where the cable reaches. Added to that, the fibre signal can only go so far from the box on the corner of the street. If you’re on a farm or even a smallholding the nearest street with a box on the corner is miles away and may as well be in the frozen wastelands of Canada for all the good it does you.

It feels like everyone has broadband except you because everyone talks about watching streaming TV like Netflix and Showmax while you’re stuck paying a grand a month to watch satellite TV.

Following the presidential address last night and the upcoming lockdown on Thursday WAPA intends to support all members in maintaining their business and clients during this time. This document is advised policy and will be amended daily to keep in line with governmental policy as it rolls out. The scope is to advise on best practice to minimise person to person contact and safety and hygiene procedures while carrying out essential services to keep clients connected during the lockdown period.