Abstract

This article reports on a study that examined how SA Connect (i.e., the South African broadband policy that was approved in 2013) has sought to integrate rural South Africans into the digital communication podia. The study drew from a major recent study focusing on selected themes as captured in SA Connect. Furthermore, it interrogated the current configurations of the South African telecommunications market and the role of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) in levelling the playing field within the sector. Located within the terrain of telecommunications policy and regulation, the study interrogated the interplay between mobile operators and ICASA in expediting broadband penetration into rural South Africa. Theoretically, the study was guided by the tenets of the knowledge gap theory as proposed by Philip Tichenor, George Donohue and Clarice Olien in 1970 and the principles of universal access within the context of the broadband ecosystem. The findings showed that an unreconstructed and predisposed skewed urban market as well as the indecisive regulator stance led to failure to reduce the digital divide. Thus, despite relentless attempts to address these challenges at policy level, South African rural areas remain excluded from the digital communication podia, subsequently causing digital inequality. The findings confirmed critical perspectives on digital inclusion which maintain that, the more information is circulated through the new conduits of information technology, the more communities from the low economic stratum of society are excluded from the information society and participation in the digital economy.

摘要

本文报道了一项研究，该研究检查了 SA Connect（即 2013 年批准的南非宽带政策）如何寻求将南非农村人融入数字通信平台。该研究取材于最近的一项主要研究，重点关注 SA Connect 中捕获的选定主题。此外，它还询问了南非电信市场的当前配置以及南非独立通信管理局 (ICASA) 在该行业内公平竞争中的作用。该研究位于电信政策和监管领域内，探讨了移动运营商和 ICASA 在加快宽带渗透到南非农村地区的相互作用。从理论上讲，该研究以 Philip Tichenor 提出的知识差距理论的原则为指导，George Donohue 和 Clarice Olien 在 1970 年以及宽带生态系统背景下的普遍接入原则。调查结果表明，未经重建和倾向倾斜的城市市场以及优柔寡断的监管立场导致未能缩小数字鸿沟。因此，尽管在政策层面不断尝试解决这些挑战，但南非农村地区仍然被排除在数字通信平台之外，从而导致数字不平等。调查结果证实了关于数字包容的批评观点，即通过新的信息技术渠道传播的信息越多，社会低经济阶层的社区就越被排除在信息社会和参与数字经济之外。