SYSTEM FAILURE: Why South Africa’s rural connectivity is falling behind
By Thobile Jiwulane
A newly erected tower put in a village where there was no network signal. (Image: Supplied)
Suppose your area has no cellphone network signal, especially in rural villages. In that case, you must know that it’s the government processes that delay it, not the service providers who are ready anytime to get the job done. Because of state bureaucratic red tape, it takes a very long time, up to a year, for the single signal tower to be erected, which means South African rural areas will take a very long time before they are connected to the outside world properly.
As mobile networks accelerate 5G rollouts across South Africa, rural communities continue to lag behind, struggling with poor connectivity due to multiple issues, including prolonged delays in getting ...