ITNewsAfrica reports that cutthroat competition that exists in the cybernet café industry in South Africa has seen operators reduce their prices significantly to attract customers. Some internet café operators have now reduced charges to an average of R1 for about 25 minutes. Before, most operators charged R1 for 12 minutes.
This is a good development and I hope that this trend will continue. I know that the cost of Internet connectivity in many African countries is quite high compared to other parts of the world. But this does not justify the high exorbitant charges that customers pay in certain places in Africa. Some café operators know that people in those places are desperate and will pay anything in order to send a simple but very important email. Due to the absence of competition, they raise the charges unfairly. By the way, is there any form of government regulation in this kind of business?
I just hope that more cafés will spring up in many places in order to drive charges further down.
14 users commented in " South Africa cybernet operators reduce charges as competition increases: Let this trend continue! "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a Trackbackwith the technological advancement and widespread of the use of internet, more and more people are dependent upon internet. in this situation everyone should be looking at a reasonably low charge. it is really good to know that the price of south African net is going down :).
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To the best of my knowledge, government regulations do not cover pricing. They cover spectrum ranges only. The best way to ensure better cost for customers is to encourage more servers as well as cyber cafes.
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Clement Nyirenda says:
January 26th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
@Nicole: I know that nongovernmental consumer associations sometimes look into these issues. But I am of the view that governments which are elected by the people and for the people should be in a position to moderate these things.
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It is so important in the world of today to ensure that people have access to the information on the internet
The growth of most economies depends on ready access to information which the web provides
WHile it is great that the cost of using an internet cafe has gone down, I think that there is still a long way to go.
In the UK there was the ‘computer in every home’ drive. I think Africa needs a similar drive. Now I know that on the grand scale of things this is not a priority, There is still health and poverty to combat. But educating the masses by providing them with direct access to information will help
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Its so unfortunate and sad that people of many parts of Africa paid too high for Internet, which has become so essential these days. Its so good that atleast now people are getting connectivity.
I agree with you that this trend is good but, I think this decrease in prices should result out of better infra-structure facilities by the government bodies. Its natural that prices spiral down with competition rising, but it is very important that the government monitors that the competition is “Healthy”. Else, it may result in unethical practices in attracting customers.
But, the good thing is that people are getting connectivity.. Hurrayyy for that 🙂
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Chethan
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This is great to hear! It’s nice to see more parts of the world getting internet at a more reduced price. The internet is what will help with many of these country’s economies.
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This is a great example of why competition is a good thing.
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All travlers should know about this service, http://www.tuitalk.com I have been using it to make free international calls when I travel. It saved me a lot of money on my hotel bills. 🙂
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Clement Nyirenda says:
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:41 am
@Amy:This is great! When will tuitalk extend their services to African countries?
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that’s what competition does. It’s a good thing..
but I hope the charge doesn’t go too low to the disadvantage of the operators. that’s what happened in our place in the Philippines. We run an internet cafe. We lost a lot of money because of the competition.. there has got to be some sort of threshold of how low the charge should be. Beyond a certain amount internet operators can’t lower their charge.
nice blog.. my first time. a lot of good things to read. 😛
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South Africa has finally done it. This is such great news to you. Hope the trend does continue for the benefit of all cyberspace fans.
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I think it is great that the prices are going down a bit and making it easier for people to have internet access from where ever they are at that very moment. I also see the other said that maybe the cafes are trying to make a bit of money also in their business. But the plus can bit that they lower their prices that brings more people in to use their internet and maybe buy some coffee or a bit of food that they offer while they stay longer with the lower internet prices. I think it could be a win/win situation all around for both parties involved.
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Sometimes I am very amazed to find out what other countries are paying for such basic services.
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It is unfair to raise the charges of the internet connectivity.The government should take measures to increase the amount of cafes.Otherwise the cost will not decrease much.
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