Shackling Sector Development: Leased Lines in the Republic of South Africa

Southern African Journal of Information and Communication, No. 8, pp. 78-107, 2007

30 Pages Posted: 11 Feb 2010

See all articles by Ewan Sutherland

Ewan Sutherland

University of the Witwatersrand, LINK Centre

Date Written: 2007

Abstract

Leased lines are basic building blocks of mobile networks, ISPs and virtual private networks. In South Africa they have been provided almost exclusively by Telkom SA, the incumbent operator, at comparatively high prices. Those prices were controlled as part of a general price cap by regulations, but in the absence of either competition or mandatory cost orientation, the level initially rose then declined (but slowly). Attempts to introduce infrastructure competition were badly managed and delayed. The Electronic Communication Act 2005 replaces these schemes, but the implementation is slow and has not yet brought changes.

Keywords: Republic of South Africa, leased lines, telecommunications

JEL Classification: N47, K21, L96

Suggested Citation

Sutherland, Ewan, Shackling Sector Development: Leased Lines in the Republic of South Africa (2007). Southern African Journal of Information and Communication, No. 8, pp. 78-107, 2007, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1550270

Ewan Sutherland (Contact Author)

University of the Witwatersrand, LINK Centre ( email )

1 Jan Smuts Avenue
Wits
Johannesburg, Gauteng 2000
South Africa

HOME PAGE: http://link.wits.ac.za/

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
32
Abstract Views
718
PlumX Metrics