tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/data-costs-27972/articlesData costs – The Conversation2020-08-27T14:26:01Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1449462020-08-27T14:26:01Z2020-08-27T14:26:01ZAre lockdown live streams working for South Africa’s musicians?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355077/original/file-20200827-20-wg0ybx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sho Madjozi, who performed in a live stream benefit concert during lockdown.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alet Pretorius/Gallo Images via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Hello,” says trumpeter <a href="http://www.theorbit.co.za/sydney-mavundla/">Sydney Mavundla</a>. “Greetings to you, sitting in your living room there on that red couch!” But Mavundla can’t see his audience. He’s talking through the “fourth wall” – the screen of a digital device – as he live streams a concert by his group from an empty studio out to the online world.</p>
<p>As COVID-19 <a href="https://theconversation.com/south-africas-lockdown-a-great-start-but-then-a-misreading-of-how-society-works-139789">lockdown</a> clamped down in early 2020, musicians everywhere began turning to live streaming as a potential alternative source of connection with audiences and earnings. But how realistic were those hopes? For South Africa, that’s what Digital Futures? – a just-published snapshot <a href="http://www.concertssa.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Digital-Futures-online.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2ce7meSlZ76ByhA8-QpuEZFV1GnI_Dup2tCvDIVonc1L12AdVFnowSBcQ">study</a> of live streaming platforms – explored in July of this year.</p>
<p>The survey was commissioned by <a href="https://www.concertssa.co.za">Concerts SA</a>, a joint South African and Norwegian development project which has, since 2014 and until the disruption of the pandemic, been distributing micro-grants to support hundreds of live music events across South Africa. The project urgently needed practical information about how best to pivot that support in the most useful way. Musicians and venues had <a href="https://www.gov.za/coronavirus/guidelines">abruptly</a> lost all sources of activity and income, leaving many destitute.</p>
<p>Commentators worldwide initially hailed live streaming as a salvation. That view has now been tempered everywhere. Our South African survey data certainly presented a more complex and nuanced picture. Potentials are still universally acknowledged as significant – but, right now, few artists or hosting venues are earning much. </p>
<h2>Who we surveyed</h2>
<p>Live streaming offers significant potential for monetising music performance. Even after lockdowns end, it could extend the life of live-audience shows and their revenue generation, if they are recorded and subsequently streamed. To realise that effectively, though, demands substantial contextual change.</p>
<p>Although live streaming had its early adopters and fast followers in South Africa (the oldest firm we surveyed has existed for ten years), the largest segment of platforms (38%) began business since, and in direct response to, the COVID-19 lockdown. Indeed, we know more initiatives have joined since the survey closed.</p>
<p>Just under 70% of our respondents are small, medium and micro enterprises; the majority have business origins in music management and promotion; others come from all along the music industry value chain. All are genre-agnostic about their offerings. Most adopt a transactional video-on-demand revenue model, where the viewer makes a one-off payment to view a single show.</p>
<p>But because live streaming in South Africa is still an ecosystem very much in formation, ad hoc revenue arrangements for individual events are common. That is even more marked for financing arrangements. There, hybrid models dominate, with a heavy reliance on corporate sponsors, donors and investors. These hybrids account for 54% of artist payments and up to 70% for filming and venue payments. </p>
<h2>Is this sustainable?</h2>
<p>Those figures raise questions about sustainability, underlined when artists’ income is discussed. Even when artists conduct vigorous extra marketing, their own reports describe earnings maxing out at around 30% of what ticket sales for their live-audience shows can earn, and often much less. </p>
<p>Artists’ earnings may be second in line after the initial investment is covered, but even if sponsorship covers this, reaching the right audience remains hard. Skills to reach the right market are still being learned – and the right market may be on the wrong side of South Africa’s yawning digital divide. “Live streaming platforms and artists carry the risk,” explains respondent Bradley Williams of the Untitled Basement music venue. “There is no insurance to cover their losses.”</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355078/original/file-20200827-14-1557r3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A sound engineer in an empty auditorium records a band of live musicians on a stage that is bathed in blue light." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355078/original/file-20200827-14-1557r3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355078/original/file-20200827-14-1557r3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355078/original/file-20200827-14-1557r3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355078/original/file-20200827-14-1557r3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355078/original/file-20200827-14-1557r3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355078/original/file-20200827-14-1557r3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/355078/original/file-20200827-14-1557r3s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Musician Nathan Smith records a live performance for a video-on-demand stream during lockdown.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alet Pretorius/Gallo Images via Getty Images</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>Potential earnings after the initial online broadcast, of course, could be far larger. The internet can expand the global audience for a niched product such as South African music: witness <a href="https://www.sowetanlive.co.za/entertainment/2020-08-27-master-kgs-jerusalema-video-hits-100-million-views/">#Jerusalema</a>, which became an international viral sensation during lockdown. DVDs for sale, licensing fees from broadcasters and music educators and pay-per-view and subscription deals are all possible.</p>
<p>All those are leveraged off the master recording of the original performance, and most of our responding platforms grant 100% of, or share, those rights with the bandleader. (Anecdotally, we know that not all platforms do: some commercial operators pay a one-off performance fee for sole rights to all future uses and musicians get nothing after the fee.)</p>
<p>But attempts at fair dealing mean little, say our respondents, while the South African context remains constraining. There is little understanding at government level, they suggest, of the fluid, project-based nature of music activities, with inflexible, slow and inappropriate official <a href="https://www.groundup.org.za/article/covid-19-only-488-4512-artists-who-applied-relief-were-paid/">provisions</a> for support.</p>
<h2>Digital inequalities</h2>
<p>That need not only mean funding. Government is well placed, they say, to provide in-kind support like skills training and facilities where streamed shows could be recorded or transmitted. Only government can develop legislative frameworks to support more equitable online remuneration. And only government can take the decisive action on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.co.za/how-sas-data-prices-compare-with-the-rest-of-the-world-2020-5">data costs</a> and wifi access that will allow the platforms to access bigger South African, before international, audiences. </p>
<p>“The high cost of internet data and poor internet quality across the country limits our potential audience reach,” notes Dr Sipho Sithole of the Watcha TV platform, a respondent. </p>
<p>Government, though, is not the only significant actor. Our respondents acknowledge that venues and musicians themselves need to become more digitally savvy to better monetise live streaming: “They need to adjust their performances to the virtual world,” says Michael Balkind of the Soda Studio streaming platform. That would be far easier, respondents suggest, if licensing agencies, rights organisations and record labels upgraded member education and improved access to and transparency around procedures and decision-making.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-south-africas-jazz-musicians-are-making-the-digital-leap-136069">How South Africa's jazz musicians are making the digital leap</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<p>The survey also revealed how much we still don’t know. For example, what the most effective marketing strategies for live streaming are, or in what respects different music genres require different staging aesthetics and marketing approaches. </p>
<p>More than a decade ago, the recorded music value chain was transformed by digital technology; today that aspect of the Fourth Industrial Revolution is beginning to transform live music too, literally as we watch. </p>
<p>If South Africa’s digital inequalities persist, the results could be more exclusionary, for both music makers and music consumers. Even a year from now, the South African live streaming scene will have grown and changed considerably, and we hope to revisit this enquiry on a much larger scale.</p>
<p><em>Concerts SA is housed within the SAMRO Foundation and receives support from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, SAMRO, the SAMRO Foundation and Concerts Norway, who helped make possible this research, conducted by Jess White.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144946/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gwen Ansell consults for IKS Cultural Consulting whose team conducted the research on behalf of Concerts SA</span></em></p>The live streaming of music events online is full of potential – but right now few artists or hosting venues are earning much from it.Gwen Ansell, Associate of the Gordon Institute for Business Science, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1318622020-02-27T11:09:13Z2020-02-27T11:09:13ZSouth Africa’s mobile market: the bottlenecks blocking competition<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/317299/original/file-20200226-24668-gi5tm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Africans feel the duopoly effects of MTN and Vodacom on the market.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the recent State of the Nation address President Cyril Ramaphosa hailed the South African Competition Commission’s <a href="https://cisp.cachefly.net/assets/articles/attachments/80825_data_market_inquiry_summary.pdf">ruling</a> to dramatically reduce data prices as</p>
<blockquote>
<p>an important step to improve lives, bring people into the digital economy and stimulate online businesses. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Late last year the Commission told dominant operators to reduce their retail prices by between 30% and 50% within two months. But will the proposed interventions produce these outcomes?</p>
<p>South Africans do indeed pay some of the highest prices for data on the continent. The country is ranked 19 out of 46 countries on the <a href="https://researchictafrica.net/ramp_indices_portal/">RIA African Mobile Pricing (RAMP) Index</a>. The prices of the first-entrant operators – MTN and Vodacom – remain high relative to Cell C and Telkom Mobile, which dropped their prices in the first half of last year. </p>
<p>But the commission’s cuts in retail prices will not fix poor competitive outcomes in the market. That can only be resolved by regulating the underlying bottlenecks in the wholesale market. These include the costs of roaming and facilities leasing. </p>
<p>The bottlenecks are correctly identified in the commission’s <a href="https://cisp.cachefly.net/assets/articles/attachments/80825_data_market_inquiry_summary.pdf">summary report</a>. It urges the sector regulator – the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa – to remedy the situation urgently.</p>
<p>Telecommunications regulators around the world define markets and determine dominance to design the appropriate ex-ante regulation to promote competition. Ex-ante regulations are those designed to protect consumers in the retail market by safeguarding fair competition in wholesale markets where the bottlenecks occur. They design regulations in the interest of delivering affordable user prices and efficient investments. </p>
<p>It’s for this reason that South Africa’s 2005 Electronic Communications Act requires the communications regulator to undertake a market review to determine and remedy market dominance. But it has failed to conclude a review for over 10 years. This would have created a more level playing field for late entrants by reducing the negative duopoly effects of MTN and Vodacom on the market. One such effect is high prices.</p>
<p>Prices and profit levels of the incumbents are high, as the benchmarking by the commission correctly shows. This indicates that the operators could accommodate retail price reductions. But the right price for data ought to result from effective regulation and competition in the wholesale market.</p>
<h2>Regulator’s failures</h2>
<p>The regulator has failed for more than a decade to finalise this critical determination. It has undertaken the market review three times at enormous public expense, twice to completion. Last year it made an interim finding on markets but failed to propose remedies for dominance.</p>
<p>Operators should not be penalised for their business success in a fair competitive market. But the dominance of the incumbents, MTN and Vodacom, in the wholesale market prevents the late entrants, Cell C and Telkom Mobile, from competing fairly and being able to exert pricing pressure. </p>
<p>This is because data quality is as important as price. Probably more so. At the height of the <a href="https://awethu.amandla.mobi/petitions/bring-the-cost-of-data-down">#datamustfall campaign</a> South African’s continue to forgo the far lower prices offered by Cell C and Telkom Mobile for the more expensive, higher quality network of the dominant operators. This while the market share of the dominant players continued to increase <a href="https://researchictafrica.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Policy-brief-No.2_South-africa.pdf">at the expense of the late entrants</a>.</p>
<p>Vodacom and MTN’s dominance gives them the liquidity to reinvest in their network infrastructure, extending coverage and improving quality. Vodacom was swift off the mark a few years ago. It used the profits from its successful voice business to invest in its data network. It quickly became the most pervasive and best quality network.</p>
<p>This enabled Vodacom (and later MTN when it had woken up to the fact that it could not milk its voice services anylonger) to attract more customers, and become more profitable. This placed the operators in a better position to enhance the quality of their networks by re-engineering their existing networks to offer competitive 4G services. This was in the absence of the regulator releasing this high-demand spectrum allocated for 4G use for over six years. </p>
<p>Even in the absence of anti-competitive practices, this has created a virtuous business cycle for the dominant operators. And a vicious one for smaller operators. </p>
<h2>Unintended consequences</h2>
<p>As welcome – or as politically expedient – as the commission’s decision is for cash strapped consumers there are several possible unintended consequences of the retail price intervention.</p>
<p>If the communications authority doesn’t address the wholesale issues urgently, the outcome could be that Vodacom and MTN, with dramatically reduced prices, will attract price-sensitive users from the late entrant networks. This would leave Cell C and Telkom Mobile unable to compete on either price or quality. </p>
<p>With dominant operators’ prices more attractive, and late entrants unable to address critical quality challenges, this will intensify the factors driving subscribers to the dominant operators networks. </p>
<p>The public focus has been on the mandatory retail price reductions for operators and the immediate relief it would provide to consumers - but policy makers and the regulators should consider possible unintended consequences of this intervention for the critical sector to the new economy. </p>
<p>Undoubtedly, one possible outcome is the inhibition of critical network investment. R70 billion of MTN and Vodacom’s significant surpluses have gone into network investment over the <a href="https://mybroadband.co.za/news/cellular/321658-the-r10-billion-network-game-winners-and-losers.html">past three years</a>. This is despite not receiving any new spectrum during this time. </p>
<p>Although prices are indeed too high – and the profitability of the dominant operators is excessive – their significant role in the economy has to be recognised and carefully managed. The lack of signalling by the commission of the nature and extent of the remedies imposed hit <a href="https://city-press.news24.com/Business/vodacom-mtn-shares-fall-following-data-price-report-20191203">the share prices of Vodacom and MTN</a>. </p>
<p>There is no benefit in this for anyone, least of all the country’s fragile, zero-growth economy. Of particular concern is that it may result in negative investor sentiment while still failing to address the underlying reasons for the high communication costs in the country.</p>
<p>The commission was at pains to point out that its intervention was a response to the absence of effective regulation by the communications authority in the wholesale market. This included the critical issues of releasing the high demand spectrum that has stifled cost-effective <a href="https://researchictafrica.net/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/2018_Policy-brief-1_Data-prices-remain-static_South-Africa-.pdf">4G deployment in South Africa.</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/131862/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span> Alison Gillwald (PhD) is the Executive Director of Research ICT Africa (RIA), a former regulator. She was appointed to the founding Council of the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA).</span></em></p>The right price for data ought to result from effective regulation and competition in the wholesale market.Alison Gillwald, Adjunct Professor, Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1118692019-02-26T14:34:28Z2019-02-26T14:34:28ZWhy fixing Africa’s data gaps will lead to better health policies<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259975/original/file-20190220-148539-o7ttia.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An aid worker collects health and nutrition data in northeastern Kenya.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s been <a href="https://www.csis.org/analysis/harnessing-data-revolution-achieve-sustainable-development-goals">a data revolution</a> around the world driven by advances in information technology and a need for research that responds to complex developmental issues. </p>
<p>African countries are also experiencing the revolution when it comes to volume, types, sources, frequency and speed of <a href="https://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/uploaded-documents/ACS/africa-data-revolution-report-2016.pdf">data production</a>. This is particularly true in the population and health sector. There’s more population and health information available in the public domain than ever.</p>
<p>Ministries of health in most African countries conduct periodic health programme reviews to establish whether policies are producing the desired results. Countries also undertake assessments on the incidence, distribution, and control of diseases. This is done through frequent analysis of routinely collected data with the aim of improving programmes. </p>
<p>These periodic reviews usually serve as important input for national strategic plans. But there are still challenges with the collection of accurate and timely data, their utility, use and analytical capacity. This means that it remains difficult for many countries to develop evidence-based policies.</p>
<h2>Mapping the issues</h2>
<p>A number of challenges face countries trying to improve the collation and use of reliable data. Here are some of them.</p>
<p><strong>Coordination:</strong> There are multiple sources of health data. These include household surveys, census, health facilities, disease surveillance, policy data and research studies. Datasets are increasingly spatially referenced and would be valuable in informing health programmes and monitoring performance. But they remain relatively under-used. It’s important to find a way to bridge this gap and increase discovery and use of data. </p>
<p>A platform for analytic support and triangulation of available data is needed. This would reduce fragmentation and duplication while improving efficiency.</p>
<p><strong>Frequency of analysis:</strong> The premise of evidence-based decision making is that health data lack value unless they are analysed and actually used to inform decisions. </p>
<p>This is why coordinated and systematic analysis and review of all available data is essential. The analysis and reviews must be done at regular intervals. Regular programme assessments are critical, but are often lacking or insufficient. </p>
<p><strong>Data structures:</strong> Periodical population and health surveys often consist of quantitative, qualitative and geospatial data that is voluminous and/or comprehensive. This requires well trained staffs with appropriate analytical skills to make meaning of these data. </p>
<p>Routinely collected health service or register-based data is common in the health sector and is traditionally used for reporting purposes. This data are longitudinal and provide wider coverage – geographically and in terms of the items recorded. This allows for trends in the use of <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4515981/">services</a> to be estimated. But the use of routinely collected data in most African countries has been far from optimal. This is mainly due to a lack of analytical capacity and low government demand for the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27697233">data</a>.</p>
<p><strong>Data Quality:</strong> Health data, especially routinely collected service data, often have quality issues. These include missing values and errors in data entry and computation. </p>
<p>These errors can lead to wrong results, wrong conclusions and wrong recommendations. They can also mean that new priorities, policies and programmes based on the data will be wrong. </p>
<p>In addition, data analysis, dissemination and use in the sector are held back. This is a problem because the use of information sources beyond routine health management information is already <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27697233">weak</a>. </p>
<p>Good quality data are essential for proper planning, budgeting and implementation of development activities, particularly those in essential services sectors such as public health. In the absence of quality data public resources investments are often based on guessed estimates, this leads to wastage.</p>
<p><strong>Data Cost:</strong> Data collection, handling, archival and analysis is still expensive in terms of capacity, logistics and financial implications for most countries in sub-Saharan Africa. National statistical offices don’t have the necessary technological, financial and human resource capacities to collect, process and disseminate the required data.</p>
<h2>Making data work</h2>
<p>African countries continue to work towards achieving national and regional commitments to improving data collection and use. But it’s critical that governments invest in relevant, timely and accurate data production for decision-making.</p>
<p>Data actors including data managers, statisticians and data analysts need to be involved at every stage. They need to be part of mapping out the problems as well as designing research methodologies and figuring out how to collect, analyse and disseminate data. </p>
<p>A wide range of data, including <a href="http://www.data4sdgs.org/sdg3">earth observation and geospatial data</a>, needs to be leveraged to review progress in meeting health and wellbeing targets. This is critical to improving the effectiveness and sustainability of health systems. </p>
<p>And there’s an urgent need to shift the focus from data to information and knowledge. This includes working with end users, like health departments, to create tools to access information. </p>
<p>Finally, governments need to make resources available to meet commitments to providing quality and affordable health care for all. This could be done by mobilising <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/working-group/data-african-development">domestic resource</a>, setting standard data indicators (for collection, analysis and reporting) and strengthening national statistics bodies. </p>
<p>Commitment may be the first step towards affordable health care. But more needs to be done to harness the power of data for public health. </p>
<p><em>Michelle Mbuthia, a Communications Officer at APHRC and Caroline Kabaria, a Postdoctoral Researcher at APHRC contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/111869/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Damazo T. Kadengye does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Data is essential for proper planning, budgeting and implementation of health care policies.Damazo T. Kadengye, Associate Research Scientist / Statistician, African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/874482017-11-28T14:53:23Z2017-11-28T14:53:23ZHow a rural community built South Africa’s first ISP owned and run by a cooperative<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/195051/original/file-20171116-18368-zkj4vd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A Zenzeleni cooperative member carefully aligns some equipment in the village of Mankosi, Eastern Cape.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bill Tucker</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mankosi is a remote rural community in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. It is home to almost 6,000 people. The nearest city is Mthatha, about 60 kilometres away, as a bird flies.</p>
<p>Most homes are not connected to the electricity grid; residents charge their cellphones at a local shop or shebeen, for which they must pay. Both data and airtime for those phones also cost a lot: a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02681102.2016.1155145">survey</a> shows that people spend up to 22% of their income on telecommunications. This is money that could be spent on food, education, transport and other needs.</p>
<p>They’re not alone. South Africa has some of the highest mobile voice and data costs in <a href="https://www.fin24.com/Tech/Multimedia/data-prices-how-sa-compares-to-the-rest-of-the-world-20160930">the world</a>.</p>
<p>Yet, things are changing in Mankosi. A <a href="http://www.coe.uwc.ac.za/index.php/BANG/BANG.html">research team</a> at the University of the Western Cape has worked with residents to develop a solar powered wireless community network. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://zenzeleni.net/">Zenzeleni Networks project</a> – Zenzeleni means “do it yourself” in isiXhosa, the Eastern Cape’s most prevalent language – is, as far as we’re aware, South Africa’s first and only Internet Service Provider (ISP) that’s owned and run by a rural cooperative. Just like any ISP, Zenzeleni installs and maintains telecommunications infrastructure and also sells telecommunications services like voice and data.</p>
<p>Yet what’s special about the project is that it involves a registered not-for-profit company which works with cooperatives in the community to deliver affordable voice and data services. Crucially, the project also keeps money in communities like Mankosi, often beset by <a href="http://www.polity.org.za/print-version/r2k-data-must-fall-right2know-june-16-statement-2017-06-15">high rates of unemployment</a>. </p>
<p>The community networks model has proven successful elsewhere in the world: the largest is in Spain – the <a href="http://guifi.net/">Guifi.net</a> project. Others that have been developed successfully include projects in <a href="http://www.machaworks.org/">Zambia</a> and <a href="https://www.rhizomatica.org/">Mexico</a>. </p>
<h2>How it works</h2>
<p>The Mankosi project was launched in 2012 and <a href="repository.uwc.ac.za/xmlui/handle/10566/1948">legally registered</a> in 2014. I have done research on information and communication technology for development (ICT4D) in the Mankosi area since 2003. Since then, colleagues and postgraduate students have also worked, even lived, in the area for extensive periods of time.</p>
<p>To establish the Zenzeleni network we approached local leaders to help get the community on board and we provided help and mentorship. Ultimately the residents run the project themselves.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Zenzeleni is all about communities doing it for themselves.</span></figcaption>
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<p>With the local authority’s permission, a cooperative comprising ten local and respected people was formed. This group designed the network layout, and built and installed a dozen solar powered mesh network stations. These are mounted on and inside houses around Mankosi. These are organised in what we call a mesh network and WiFi stations cover an area of 30 square kilometres. </p>
<p>Zenzeleni constitutes a fully fledged Internet Service Provider (ISP), equipped with an Internet and Voice-over Internet Protocol gateway, and a billing system in isiXhosa run by community managers. </p>
<p>The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), which grants licences to ISPs and collects fees where necessary, granted Zenzeleni a licence exemption; so it costs Zenzeleni nothing in fees to operate infrastructure and sell services. The community only has to pay for the backhaul Internet connectivity, which they can get at wholesale prices from companies like <a href="http://easttel.co.za/">EastTel</a> and <a href="http://openserve.co.za/open/">OpenServe</a>, and for educational use from <a href="http://www.tenet.ac.za">TENET</a>. </p>
<p>Any device – even a low to mid-range smart phone – that’s WiFi-enabled can access the network. There are two dedicated wireless connections to “point of presence”, or POP, fibre in Mthatha.</p>
<p>Zenzeleni’s voice calls and data costs are much cheaper than what’s offered by the big mobile operators. For example voice calls can cost 20c a minute rather than the standard R1.50 or more while data costs can be between 20 and 40 times cheaper.</p>
<p>The solar powered stations also charge cell phone batteries less than what’s usually charged by spaza shops or shebeens. Those shops also tend to be some distance from the village, so people save time as well as money.</p>
<h2>A true community project</h2>
<p>Community is at the heart of Zenzeleni’s model. All revenues stay in the community: each cooperative has a bank account, and all residents get together to decide what to do with the money that’s been paid for Zenzeleni services. </p>
<p>For example, the Mankosi cooperative has provided micro-loans to residents for starting small businesses. </p>
<p>No one is currently earning a salary from the community network. Yet when usage grows, as we expect it will do with super cheap data, revenues are likely to grow so much that the cooperative will want to install more nodes and hire people to actively maintain them making the network more resilient. Since March 2014, the project has earned around R33,600 (about USD$2422.16).</p>
<h2>Keeping money at home</h2>
<p>On the surface it may appear that Zenzeleni cannibalises the revenues of big telecommunications companies like MTN and Telkom. We believe the opposite is true. Firstly, Zenzeleni purchases backhaul Internet connectivity from areas like Mankosi that Telkom and others have failed to connect – so it’s operating in entirely new areas that have been ignored because they’re considered too remote to generate good revenue.</p>
<p>Secondly, all telecommunications companies earn interconnect fees. Calls to mobile and landline numbers across South Africa incur these fees, which are charged when calling from one network to another. This is also true for Zenzeleni so that’s extra money in the bank for all telecommunications companies.</p>
<p>Lastly, and most importantly, most of the money generated by this project stays in Mankosi. This is perhaps the most crucial aspect of the Zenzeleni model, and one we believe will foster economic growth which will benefit people living in and around the village, and enable them to purchase telecommunications, and other goods and services, that they currently cannot afford.</p>
<p>Zenzeleni Networks’ next goal is to build critical mass to support between 20 and 30 communities surrounding Mankosi. When this happens, about 300,000 people will be able to sustainably connect themselves – and their schools, clinics, hospitals and homes – to cheaper voice, data and phone battery charging. This puts telecommunications into their own hands, by themselves.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/87448/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bill Tucker receives funding from Telkom, Aria Technologies, NRF, DST, Mozilla Foundation, AFRINIC, Internet Society, TIA and more. He works for UWC in the Department of Computer Science. He has no shares or business interest in Zenzeleni Networks Mankosi or Zenzeleni Networks NPC; both of which are non-profit entities. </span></em></p>South Africa has some of the highest mobile voice and data costs in the world. A project to deliver affordable services and keep money in communities with high unemployment rates could be the answer.Bill Tucker, Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of the Western CapeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/641682016-08-31T00:11:19Z2016-08-31T00:11:19ZWhere’s your data? It’s not actually in the cloud, it’s sitting in a data centre<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135869/original/image-20160830-28244-11da7gz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The new Equinix SY4 data centre in Alexandria sure doesn't look like a cloud from the outside.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Equinix</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Without data centres, today’s world stops. Flights are grounded, Wall Street closes, and the internet grinds to a halt. Yet despite their emergence as nerve centres of the global economy, data centres have drawn almost no attention in debates about globalisation and nor are they often discussed outside of business and IT publications. </p>
<p>Even the recent debate on the <a href="https://theconversation.com/census-website-cracks-after-malicious-attack-by-hackers-63734">bungling of the digital census</a> managed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics focused on questions surrounding possible distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. </p>
<p>This was despite mention of <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/national/census-website-attacked-by-hackers-abs-claims-20160809-gqouum.html">hardware failures</a> as well as inadequate redundancy and load testing, which are problems that stem from operations within data centres. </p>
<p>Data centres provide governments and industry with advantages in terms of improving website and internet service speed, providing access to technical and security services and expertise, and cutting labour and hardware costs. </p>
<p>Consultancy firm Frost & Sullivan forecasts that the Australian data centre services market will <a href="http://ww2.frost.com/news/press-releases/australian-data-centre-market-offers-sizeable-growth-opportunities-says-frost-sullivan/">grow by 12.4% a year</a> to 2022.</p>
<p>Much of this growth will be driven by regular internet users. If you use social media sites, Google applications, web-based mail services, or just carry a smartphone, you have your data stored in a data centre. </p>
<p>Even if you only very occasionally use the internet, you still have data stored about you: all <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/metadata-6464">metadata</a> of people residing in Australia is now legally required to be stored by internet service providers for <a href="http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/new-data-retention-laws-begin-today-this-is-what-you-need-to-know/news-story/28ea2dc1b01d15e53f474e21b6d68501">two years</a>. </p>
<h2>Where’s your data?</h2>
<p>But where are these data – your data – being stored? Ask someone in Australia where everything they’ve ever uploaded to social media is actually located, and they are more likely to say “in the cloud” than “in a data centre”. </p>
<p>Although cloud technologies make it difficult to pinpoint data to a particular data centre, the reality is that data centres are never too far from us. </p>
<p>They are in our cities, suburbs and occasionally in rural and remote locations. In order to investigate the data centres near us we began looking in the inner Sydney suburb of Alexandria.</p>
<iframe src="https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d13245.119840178884!2d151.18309779261108!3d-33.908193531849534!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x6b12b1b436d0496b%3A0x5017d681632ab30!2sAlexandria+NSW+2015!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sau!4v1472434044556" width="100%" height="450" frameborder="0" style="border:0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<p>Most Sydneysiders are aware of the ongoing transformation of Alexandria, which includes parts of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/move-over-suburbia-green-square-offers-new-norm-for-urban-living-57633">urban renewal project called Green Square</a>. </p>
<p>In the 1940s it was the country’s densest industrial area: more than <a href="http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/195642/8928_Green-Square-History-Booklet-A5_FA1.pdf">22,000 people were documented to be working in 550 factories</a> that were crammed into a 4km-square boundary. </p>
<p>Today the suburb is best known for its warehouse apartments, tech industries, offices, commercial businesses and showrooms. The industrial look of the suburb has largely been retained thanks to a <a href="http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/heritagesearch.aspx">large number of heritage-listed buildings</a>.</p>
<p>A lesser-known fact about Alexandria is one that is shaping its current development phase: it is one of the places you need to be if you want the fastest connectivity in Australia. </p>
<p>Alexandria, along with Brookvale on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, is where the Southern Cross Cable network “lands” in the country. This cable is one of five that sit above the ocean floor to connect Australia with the rest of the world. </p>
<p>As New York University’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-our-wi-fi-world-the-internet-still-depends-on-undersea-cables-49936">Nicole Starosielski</a> has explained on The Conversation, “undersea cables transport almost 100% of transoceanic data traffic”. </p>
<p>Few people know that Alexandria plays a role in connecting them to rest of the world, transmitting data through telecommunication networks. </p>
<p>This is not surprising. Neither the landing port nor the suburb’s cluster of data centres are easy to find. </p>
<p>Taking a walking tour around the data centres of Alexandria requires research and planning. Data centres generally do not have a company name on their front gates. They are secured by guards and surveillance technologies.</p>
<p>We decided to explore Alexandria by focusing on one company that has four data centres in the area, including a recently opened facility that will become one of the country’s largest data storage and processing plants.</p>
<p>Equinix is a US corporation that operates some 145 data centres across five continents. These data centres are “carrier-neutral”, which means they operate independently from the companies that interconnect within them. </p>
<p>Among Equinix’s clients are cloud service providers such as <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/">Amazon Web Services</a> and <a href="https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/">Microsoft Azure</a>. </p>
<p>Equinix bills its data centres as “international business exchanges”. Peering services like those offered by Equinix allow companies to enhance speed and obtain a competitive advantage by connecting directly with each other inside its facilities rather than having to establish links over the much slower public internet. High-frequency trading is one financial sector that benefits from such arrangements.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135871/original/image-20160830-28253-9fzfhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135871/original/image-20160830-28253-9fzfhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/135871/original/image-20160830-28253-9fzfhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135871/original/image-20160830-28253-9fzfhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135871/original/image-20160830-28253-9fzfhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135871/original/image-20160830-28253-9fzfhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135871/original/image-20160830-28253-9fzfhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/135871/original/image-20160830-28253-9fzfhb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Servers in the Equinix SY4 facility.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Equinix</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Equinix’s four Alexandria data centres are spread along Bourke Road. One is housed in a <a href="http://sydneyyoursay.com.au/industrial-and-warehouse-heritage-listings-and-conservation-areas/documents/22774/download">refurbished warehouse</a> designed by renowned architect Harry Seidler in the late 1960s. </p>
<p>The recently opened facility, dubbed SY4, will almost double the company’s capacity in Australia. A <a href="http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/208595/140724_CSPC_ITEM04.pdf">development application</a> submitted in 2014 details plans for power supply, water management and noise control. </p>
<p>The document states that the “data centre is to provide 24/7 mission critical services to business customers by providing a secure and reliable location for the ‘co-locating’ of their equipment”.</p>
<h2>Bricks and mortar</h2>
<p>An argument can be made that the public doesn’t really need to know where data centres like those in Alexandria are located. After all, much of the data they store, process and transmit are private and confidential. </p>
<p>However, since data centres comprise a growing global industry that provides critical social and economic infrastructure we think they warrant research. </p>
<p>Governments spend a great deal of resources <a href="https://theconversation.com/protecting-critical-infrastructure-in-a-world-of-infinite-attacks-37511">safeguarding critical infrastructure</a>. The protection of data and information systems is now included in this work. </p>
<p>However, the focus for data security is on the development of software, as though we have forgotten that data storage happens in real places on the ground – and not in “virtual” clouds. </p>
<p>Not knowing where data centres are located, or indeed what they actually do, prevents us from having conversations about how this infrastructure is governed, supported and protected. </p>
<p>We need to ask how data centres can and will impact on the economy, different industries, government policy, society and the environment. </p>
<p>Becoming acquainted with these facilities is a first step to understanding their role in shaping how digital communication and content are stored, used and moved around the world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64168/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brett Neilson receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ned Rossiter receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tanya Notley receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>Without data centres the world stops. We explored the inner Sydney suburb of Alexandria to learn more about these critical infrastructures.Brett Neilson, Professor of Culture and Society, Western Sydney UniversityNed Rossiter, Professor of Communication., Western Sydney UniversityTanya Notley, Lecturer in Internet Studies & Convergent Media, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/591252016-06-01T15:00:46Z2016-06-01T15:00:46ZInternet freedom: why access is becoming a human right<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/124766/original/image-20160601-3253-azci7l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Most South Africans are dependent on unaffordable mobile data to access the Internet</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://networksocietylab.org">Indra de Lanerolle</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When most people think or speak about internet freedom, they are often concerned with the right, for example, to say what you want online without censorship and without being subject to the chilling effects of surveillance. </p>
<p>These kind of freedoms are sometimes called “negative freedoms” or “freedoms from…”. They address the right not to be interfered with or obstructed in living your life. But there are also “positive freedoms” — <a href="https://www.wiso.uni-hamburg.de/fileadmin/wiso_vwl/johannes/Ankuendigungen/Berlin_twoconceptsofliberty.pdf">“freedoms to…”</a></p>
<p>Some constitutions – notably the US Constitution – only protect negative rights. But South Africa’s includes both negative and positive rights. Positive rights include, for example, the <a href="https://dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/12785996">socio-economic rights</a> to food and shelter. </p>
<p>In its <a href="https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/freedom-net-2015">Internet Freedom Index</a> Freedom House ranks South Africa as “free” alongside the UK, Argentina and Kenya. The ranking is largely because Freedom House weighs negative freedoms above positive ones. But how “free” is the internet in South Africa? For most, it is positive internet freedoms that may be more urgent.</p>
<h2>Freedom is access</h2>
<p>The South African Constitution in the Bill of Rights does not explicitly protect internet freedom but <a href="http://www.gov.za/documents/constitution/chapter-2-bill-rights#16">section 16(1)</a> states that everyone has the right to “freedom to receive or impart information or ideas”. This is a right for everyone and it is not just a freedom from interference – a “freedom from” – but also a “freedom to”: a right to be able to reach others and be reached by others. In this it follows Article 19 of the <a href="http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/">Universal Declaration of Human Rights</a>. </p>
<p>In his book <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=NQs75PEa618C&redir_esc=y"><em>Development as Freedom</em></a>, Amartya Sen describes freedom as “our capability to lead the kind of lives we have reason to value”. In many ways, the internet is extending such capabilities. </p>
<p>More people now go online daily than read a newspaper. They are able to read a much greater variety of voices than are seen in print or on television. And <a href="https://twitter.com/CityPowerJhb/with_replies">public services</a> are offering improved responsiveness on social media.</p>
<p>But we are also seeing a new development – instances where internet access is now a requirement. Examples include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="http://www.cipc.co.za/index.php/Access/how-2/">registering a company</a>,</p></li>
<li><p>The Gauteng Education Department now requires parents with children entering primary or high school to apply <a href="https://www.gdeadmissions.gov.za">online</a>. Previously they could apply at the local school, and</p></li>
<li><p>The South African Broadcasting Corporation has announced that it will no longer advertise its jobs in newspapers, directing job seekers to its own website.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Indications from government are that we are likely to see <a href="http://www.gov.za/speeches/minister-jeff-radebe-gauteng-e-government-and-ict-summit-2015-2-nov-2015-0000">more such initiatives</a>. The result will be that South Africans’ ability to lead the kind of lives they value will become increasingly dependent on the physical, procedural, economic and social networks that we call “the internet”.</p>
<h2>The question of cost</h2>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.mediaupdate.co.za/marketing/82875/new-amps-data-shows-relative-stability">All Media Products Survey (AMPS)</a> of June 2015 fewer than half of South African adults had used the internet in the previous four weeks. More than half did not. </p>
<p>When <a href="http://networksocietylab.org/the-new-wave-report-doc/">we asked</a> a representative sample of non-users in South Africa in 2012 why they hadn’t gone online, the main reason was that they had no device to connect with (87%). The second reason was that they didn’t know how to use it (76%) and the third was that it was too expensive (60%).</p>
<p>According to the survey, <a href="http://www.mediaupdate.co.za/marketing/82875/new-amps-data-shows-relative-stability">nine out of ten South Africans</a> now use a mobile phone but only half of those now have access to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone">smartphones</a>. The most popular phone brand in South Africa is still Nokia. Most of the models in use have limited or no ability to connect to the net. And because only the better off have access to fixed lines at home or at work, the majority of South Africans, when they do get online, are dependent on mobile networks.</p>
<p>Mobile data is costly.</p>
<p>The International Telecommunications Union and the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation have set a goal for <a href="http://www.broadbandcommission.org/Documents/Broadband_Targets.pdf">affordable broadband internet access</a>. It is that entry level broadband should not cost more than 5% of average monthly income. Because of a flawed methodology they state in a <a href="http://www.broadbandcommission.org/publications/Pages/SOB-2015.aspx">2015 annual report</a> that South Africa falls well within that target. But digging into the figures shows how unaffordable the internet is for most South Africans.</p>
<p>Statistics SA sets an upper bound poverty line of <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/publications/Report-03-10-06/Report-03-10-06March2014.pdf">R779 per month per person</a> (in 2011 prices). Most – about 53% – of the South African population live on income below this, according to the last census. So this poverty line is more or less the average income in the country. The poverty line adjusted for inflation to 2016 would be R1 031.</p>
<p>Taking the international 5% of income goal gives a maximum budget of about R52 per month. On three major networks (which account for more than 95% of all mobile customers) 500MB – the amount of data they set as a minimum – of data costs between R85 and R105. So for the average South African 500MB per month is unaffordable. In fact mobile data prices would have to fall by about half to be affordable.</p>
<p>And is 500MB per month enough? It is enough for a lot of instant messaging, or say about half an hour a day of browsing the web or using Facebook. But it is not enough to participate in otherwise free online courses such as <a href="https://www.khanacademy.org">Kahn Academy</a> that often rely heavily on video.</p>
<p>This is affecting usage. The most popular online activity is instant messaging using applications like whatsapp. But only one in five people download music online.</p>
<p>Could mobile data be much cheaper in South Africa? Evidence suggests that the answer is yes. <a href="http://www.researchictafrica.net/presentations/Presentations/2015_Gillwald_ICT_Access_and_Affordability_AfriSIG.pdf">Research ICT Africa’s price index</a> shows that South Africa’s data prices are over 20% more expensive than Nigeria, Uganda and Mozambique and three times as expensive as Kenya. </p>
<p>It is also worth noting that the poor in South Africa pay much more for data than the better-off. If you have a fixed line in your home you can buy pre-paid data bundles for R7 per GB or even less, a small fraction of what mobile network users pay.</p>
<h2>Free internet?</h2>
<p>We could go further and ask if the internet could and should not only be cheaper but free? In some places and for some people it already is. That includes university students thanks to <a href="http://www.tenet.ac.za">a network for tertiary institutions</a> funded by the government. It also includes many residents in the metropole of Tshwane – including townships – where <a href="http://www.tshwane.gov.za/Pages/WIFI.aspx">there are over 600 wifi hotspots</a> offering 500MB of data per day at fast speeds for free.</p>
<p>Just as South African municipalities give poor households a minimum amount of 600 litres of water and 50kwh of electricity for free, they could extend this model to the internet.</p>
<p>As lawyers sometimes say, the right to freedom of expression is an ‘enabling right’ —- a right that enables people to access or defend other rights. In the same way the internet itself is now an enabling technology that is increasingly required to participate in social, political and economic life.</p>
<p>For many or most South Africans whether or not the <a href="https://pmg.org.za/call-for-comment/420/">Films and Publications Board</a> interferes with their right to view video material online does not affect ‘their capability to lead the lives they value’ because they cannot afford to access video or audio content online. At present, defending ‘negative’ internet rights is protecting the rights of the few. We need to move to demanding the ‘positive right’ of affordable access if we want internet freedom for all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/59125/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Indra de Lanerolle receives funding from Making All Voices Count for his research on mobile Internet use . He runs the Network Society Lab in the Journalism and Media programme at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. The Lab conducts research on the social, economic and political effects of the Internet. Indra is a board member of the Freedom of Expression Institute. The views in this article are his own. </span></em></p>It is time to demand the ‘positive right’ of affordable access if we want internet freedom for all.Indra de Lanerolle, Visiting Researcher, Network Society Lab, Journalism and Media Programme, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.