The lifeline subsidy may enable those who are already connected through smart devices to use data more optimally to enjoy the benefits of being connected, but it does not assist with bringing the 50% of South Africans who are offline, online.
n the South African president’s state of the the nation address in February Cyril Ramaphosa highlighted the fact that the country’s Competition Commission had
Even if this may, arguably, inhibit the kind of product innovation that brought people online by offering micro-products, the intervention in the market is warranted on public interest grounds. And it is likely to have the intended outcome of making data more affordable for the poor. From a public interest policy perspective, cross subsidisation is justifiable if the subsidy and cost allocation is transparent. And if the increased cost being paid by those online, for example, is used to subsidise the extension of networks or services to get the rest of the population online. This is what happened in classical universal service regulation to get networks extended intoBut the lifeline subsidy does not bring more people online.
. The survey showed that education, income and locational inequalities are simply being mirrored online – arguably amplified – as the economic and social value of being digitally networked increases exponentially.here are alternative ways of subsidising data and bringing people online. One example is providing free public wi-fi at all public buildings. This would enable those who were unable to pay for airtime to go online by accessing a public wi-fi point.
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