// UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO THE INTERNET AND FREE PUBLIC ACCESS IN SOUTH AFRICA // A SEVEN-POINT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN // This report is published by: Media Monitoring Africa https://www.mediamonitoringafrica.org/ South African National Editors’ Forum https://sanef.org.za/ Interactive Advertising Bureau of South Africa https://www.iabsa.net/ Association for Progressive Communications https://www.apc.org/ // This report is endorsed by: African Centre of Excellence for Information Ethics University of Pretoria www.up.ac.za/aceie Centre for Human Rights University of Pretoria https://www.chr.up.ac.za/ This report was prepared and designed with the assistance of ALT Advisory: https://altadvisory.africa/. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. This means that you are free to share and adapt this work so long as you give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. Any such sharing or adaptation must be for non- commercial purposes, and must be made available under the same “share alike” terms. Full licence terms can be found at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-ncsa/4.0/legalcode. // 1 // UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO THE INTERNET AND FREE PUBLIC ACCESS IN SOUTH AFRICA // A SEVEN-POINT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN // TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ACRONYMS ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................. 5 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 5 Overview of the report ................................................................................................................................................ 6 Guiding principles......................................................................................................................................................... 7 Methodology ................................................................................................................................................................. 7 PART I: THE CONCEPT OF UNIVERSAL AND FREE ACCESS .......................................................................... 8 Defining the terminology ............................................................................................................................................ 8 The term “access” ...................................................................................................................................................... 8 The term “free access” .............................................................................................................................................. 9 The term “universal free access” .......................................................................................................................... 10 Barriers to achieving universal free access ........................................................................................................... 11 Current state of access to the internet in South Africa ....................................................................................... 12 The economic argument for attaining universal free access .............................................................................. 13 PART II: UNIVERSAL AND FREE ACCESS THROUGH A RIGHTS-BASED LENS ............................................. 16 Human rights framework .......................................................................................................................................... 17 ICTs and sustainable development ......................................................................................................................... 19 Positive and negative obligations on the state .................................................................................................... 20 Current policy framework ......................................................................................................................................... 21 The need to update the existing policy framework ............................................................................................. 23 PART III: THE SEVEN-POINT PLAN ............................................................................................................... 25 Overview of the seven-point plan ........................................................................................................................... 25 1 // 7: Free public access at government sites ........................................................................................... 26 Public access in context ........................................................................................................................................ 26 Role of government sites in community connectivity ....................................................................................... 27 Targets for connecting government sites in South Africa ............................................................................... 28 Going beyond simple access ................................................................................................................................ 29 Key considerations for implementation .............................................................................................................. 30 2 // 7: Zero-rated access to government websites and data ..................................................................... 31 The e-Government Strategy .................................................................................................................................. 31 Open government / open data............................................................................................................................. 33 Zero-rating government information .................................................................................................................. 35 Striking the correct balance between zero-rating government websites and the principle of net neutrality .................................................................................................................................................................. 36 Key considerations for implementation .............................................................................................................. 37 3 // 7: Free public wi-fi ................................................................................................................................ 38 Free public wi-fi as a growing service offering ................................................................................................. 38 Examples of free public wi-fi initiatives .............................................................................................................. 39 Role of the private sector ...................................................................................................................................... 40 Key considerations for implementation .............................................................................................................. 40 4 // 7: Provision of free basic internet ........................................................................................................ 41 Free basic municipal services ............................................................................................................................... 41 Tranche of free basic internet ............................................................................................................................... 42 Key considerations for implementation .............................................................................................................. 42 // 2 // UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO THE INTERNET AND FREE PUBLIC ACCESS IN SOUTH AFRICA // A SEVEN-POINT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN 5 // 7: Digital literacy programmes ............................................................................................................. 43 Types of skills required ......................................................................................................................................... 43 Responsibility for digital literacy.......................................................................................................................... 44 Digital literacy interventions ................................................................................................................................. 44 The need for relevant content .............................................................................................................................. 46 6 // 7: Minimum protections in the provision of free access ...................................................................... 47 Minimum protections for the user ....................................................................................................................... 47 Minimum protections for the network ................................................................................................................ 47 Key considerations for implementation 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