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

Abstract

This paper 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. Universal telecommunication access refers to providing telecommunication infrastructure in a geographical location such that people living in that area can communicate with people in other parts of the world. The digital divide is used for information inequality, gaps in information or knowledge, or computer and media literacy. Telecommunications reform in South Africa was accompanied by a strong policy commitment to achieving universal access and service (UAS). South Africa’s transition to democracy in 1994 and its subsequent engagement with telecommunications reform took place against the background of an increasing interest in UAS as a central sector reform issue and in the context of a racially discriminatory history of systematic denial of access to telecommunications services for the majority of the population. However, 29 years since democracy, the digital divide continues such that most disadvantaged communities cannot access networks, making it difficult to make calls in the case emergency. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become an essential instrument for realising human rights, and ensuring its accessibility must be a primary concern for all governments. ICT can considerably increase citizens’ access to various resources—such as information and essential services—vital to attaining human rights. The paper concludes that government should move with speed in addressing the digital divide.