World Wide Worx released its Internet Access in South Africa 2010 study on 17 March 2010. The presentation from the press conference has been distilled into a Tweenote Presentation: 10 tweets, each within the 140-character limit of Twitter, that capture the essence of the findings. By Arthur Goldstuck (art2gee on Twitter)

What follows is a tweenote presentation titled “Internet Access in SA 2010 – Tweeted”. For background: http://www.worldwideworx.com

#tweenote 1. By the end of 2011, African undersea cable capacity will increase 150-fold over the 2008 maximum

#tweenote 2. Blanket grant of licenses in SA, along with undersea cables, spark 18% growth in number of access providers

#tweenote 3. ADSL lines grew by 21% last year – versus 88% growth in mobile broadband accounts. The competition factor!

#tweenote 4. Of 1.5m wireless broadband subscriptions, only 930 00 use it as a primary form of broadband. ADSL is better

#tweenote 5. That means wireless broadband is 50% bigger than ADSL as primary form of broadband, from being level in 2008

#tweenote 6. Dial-up is down to 500 000 users. 200 000 migrated to broadband last year, the rest will follow.

#tweenote 7. ADSL in SMEs the big story: aside from the subscribers, they connected an additional 756 000 people in 2009.

#tweenote 8. Cellphone as primary form of access: 450 000 (3m use it in addition to other forms). Corporates connect 2m.

#tweenote 9. Total SA Internet user base end 2009: 5.3m. To grow to 9.9m by 2014. Academic and cellphone the big drivers.

#tweenote 10. The Experience Curve (our model) shows that usage of online services will explode from 2012. Prepare now.

That was a #tweenote presentation; a full research presentation in 10 tweets, from World Wide Worx. Thanks for following.

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The second of nine new undersea telecommunications cables to connect Sub-Saharan Africa to the rest of the world by 2011 will make landfall in South Africa tomorrow: 13 February 2010

Telkom announced today that the East African Submarine Cable System (EASSy) would land at Mtunzini – the landing site of SEACOM, the first new cable – on the northern KwaZulu-Natal coastline.

However, it also admitted that the cable would only be ready for operations in August 2010 – too late to make a contribution to World Cup 2010 broadcast needs. Once it is in operation, however, its capacity will exceed that of the SEACOM cable.



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For alerts of new items on The Big Change, follow Arthur Goldstuck on Twitter, on @art2gee

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While views on 2010 are generally cautiously optimistic, there are serious issues South African businesses will have to face during the year, issues that have nothing to do with soccer or economics, writes ALLEN SMITH, CEO of ContinuitySA.

Whether it’s crumbling infrastructure, lack of skills, social unrest, failing health standards, a larger tax bill or any combination of these events, 2010 in South Africa will be a good year to be sure your business continuity plans are in good shape.

There are, of course, always issues that force organisations to implement their business continuity plans, but with reduced budgets, less certainty in all spheres and the continuing brain drain, we expect a busy year for business continuity professionals.

With that in mind, I believe the following make up the top 10 issues businesses will face in 2010 that will cause them to invoke their business continuity plans:



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Two ads in the employment section of the latest Sunday Times offer two related signposts for the development of technology infrastructure in South Africa during 2010, writes ARTHUR GOLDSTUCK

Two ads in the latest Sunday Times were seemingly innocuous: six posts advertised for Broadband Infraco, and 13 for the Department of Home Affairs. But between the lines, they said so much.

To start with, the Home Affairs ad was headlined “Building the New Home Affairs”. That ’s a positive sign to start with; an acknowledgement that Home Affairs as it had been structured and the way it had been operating simply wasn’t good enough.



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