- Communications in South Africa
= Telephone =
Telephone s - main lines in use::4.844 million(2002):over 5 million (2001)Telephones - mobile cellular::41.3 million (South Africa has a popualtion of about 46 million) (2007) provided by four GSM networks,
Vodacom [http://www.vodacom.co.za] , MTN South Africa [http://www.mtn.co.za] ,Cell C [http://www.cellc.net] andVirgin Mobile [http://virginmobile.co.za] . MTN andVodacom also support theUMTS 3G standard.Telephone system::the landline system provided by Telkom [http://www.telkom.co.za] (which formally had a government-granted
monopoly on land-lines) is the best developed and most modern in Africa.Neotel [http://www.neotel.co.za] the Second National Operator has now entered the market and are proving voice and broadband fixed line access"domestic:":consists of carrier-equipped open-wire lines,
coaxial cable s,microwave radio relay links ,fiber-optic cable, radiotelephone communication stations, andwireless local loop s; key centers areBloemfontein ,Cape Town ,Durban ,Johannesburg ,Port Elizabeth , andPretoria ."international:":2 submarine cables;
satellite earth station s - 3Intelsat (1 Indian Ocean and 2 Atlantic Ocean)Radio
Radio broadcast stations::AM 14, FM 347 (plus 243 repeaters), shortwave 1 (1998)
Radios::17 million (2001)
Television
Television broadcast stations::556 (plus 144 network repeaters) (1997)(unknown source, only channels 4 available to public, SABC 1,2,3 and eTV)Televisions::6 million (2000)
Internet
Internet Service Providers (ISPs)::150 (2001)
Internet hosts::288,633 (2003)
Internet users::5.1 million (2006)
Broadband Internet:Although expensive compared to more developed nations,
broadband is easily obtainable in South Africa. Fixed line options such asADSL ,ISDN ,Diginet and Leased Lines are available from the national operator Telkom. Wireless options are available fromSentech [http://www.sentech.co.za] ,iBurst [http://www.iburst.co.za] ,Vodacom [http://www.vodacom.co.za] , MTN,Cell C as well as Telkom. Satellite options are available from both Sentech and Telkom.ADSL options start from 384 kbit/s R169 p/m on a 1GB cap ($24 - February 2007) while a more expensive 1024 kbit/s ADSL connection uncapped would cost R1950 ($278) or more depending on the provider used.
Wireless options are also available in major urban centres with speeds up to 7.6 Mbit/s with HSDPA.
Second National Operator (SNO):A SNO,
Neotel , has been licensed in South Africa and it is expected that the SNO will be commence public operations during April 2007.See also
*
South Africa
*South African Communication Landmarks References
External links
* [http://www.neotel.co.za/ Neotel]
* [http://mybroadband.co.za/news/ SA Telecoms and Communications News]
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