Human Rights and Access to Telecommunication Services in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Abstract

This study unpacks challenges with access to universal telecommunication services in the Eastern Cape from the human rights angle. The purpose of universal telecommunication is to provide access to telecommunications infrastructure to everyone, regardless of location, poverty, age, gender, or other discriminating factors. Developing nations still need to work on achieving genuinely universal access, despite significant attempts to bridge the digital divide. By establishing telecommunications infrastructure in a specific location, universal telecommunication access means enabling local residents to communicate with those living elsewhere in the world. The term “digital divide” is used to refer to issues with media and computer literacy as well as information inequality and knowledge gaps. In South Africa, a robust policy commitment to achieve universal access and service (UAS) accompanied the country’s telecommunications reform. The majority of the population has historically been denied access to telecommunication services due to racial discrimination, so South Africa’s 1994 democratic transition and its subsequent engagement with telecommunications reform occurred against a backdrop of growing interest in UAS as a central sector reform issue. However, 29 years after democracy, the digital divide continues such that most disadvantaged communities cannot access networks, making it difficult to make calls in an emergency. The accessibility of information and communication technology (ICT), which has emerged as a crucial tool for achieving
human rights, must be a top priority for all governments. ICT has the potential to significantly expand citizens’ access to a range of resources, including information and services that are crucial for achieving human rights. The study comes to the conclusion that the government should act quickly to close the digital divide.