ADSL Uptake and Regulatory Intervention in South

Abstract

ADSL is an important broadband technology for South Africa that has the ability to have a significant positive impact on the socio-economic environment of the country. As ADSL uses existing network infrastructure, it also maximises on an operator’s investment. These benefits of ADSL have not been fully realised in South Africa because of a comparatively poor uptake of the service due to several reasons. The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine whether regulatory intervention was required to increase the uptake of ADSL in South Africa. Some of the main findings of this research are that regulatory intervention is required to stimulate the uptake of ADSL by introducing measures such as local loop unbundling and by introducing greater competition in the broadband environment in general.