Free Internet Access for SA Schools

School children who have long been promised half-price Internet access are still not getting online, as regulations calling for discounted access are bogged down in official protocol.

Now the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) has proposed that all government schools should get Internet access for free, in a move that companies will support as soon as the government finalises its requirements.

Half-price access was first promised several years ago, as part of a social responsibility obligation for companies to take technologies into rural areas.
Yet in 2005 the internet service providers were already raising alarms that the Internet was not reaching rural communities and not enough schools were being brought online. They blamed Telkom for not offering them discounted access to the telephone lines essential to carry the service.

To read the article titled, “Schools should get free Internet access,” click here.