Accessibility to Internet: Is Universality Possible?

by Guy Berger

Presentation to 2nd Expert Meeting on Human Rights and the Internet

Organised by the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion

and Expression, Stockholm, 30-31 March 2011

Coming up

Access not a right, but essential for rights! 1.What do we mean by access?2.What is universality?3.How to get there?4.Summing up5.AIMS – the other side of the coin

1. Getting past a glib notion

• Stats for .ZA, 50m people, highlight the meanings of “access”:• Access for whom?– A.M.P.S: 2009 – 3.7m users based on >14-year-olds; – Korea Internet Information Center defined “Internet user”

as ‘a person aged 7 years and over’ (2001)

– UNSC, OECD, ITU look at users as % of total population.• How often is access made use of – i.e. what makes for users?• A.M.P.S: 3.7m users “in past month”; 3.3m “in past week”.• UNSC, OECD, ITU: if you used internet over last 12 months!• What’s really important in the who & when re: access?

Access & locality• Where is access?

– An important issue is not just individuals, but also the % of institutions (eg. Businesses) with access.

– This also impacts individuals: for at least 40% in .ZA, primary or exclusive access is at work or university = this constrains their types of usage.

– Many jobs (eg. Mining, manual labour) don’t entail the Net.– ALSO: an estimated 35% of .ZA adults are jobless – Very limited public venues: (cybercafes, libraries and MPCCs).

• Is the goal of access for every household?• Isn’t this an archaic notion, in an age of tablets & mobility?• So, the issue is: should we focus on ubiquitous

access?

Nuancing the numbers

• Access via what device and screen?– PWC: 2009 – 5,3m internet users in SA (computer access?)– CEO Vodacom in 2011: his company alone has “9m internet users”

• Access via what techs? In cellphones, 3 types…– Tier 1: WAP access - Wireless Application Protocol, used for

ringtones, traditional & new media publisher sites, operator portals. 10m users in 2009.

– Tier 2: Mobile Applications, used for Google, and “walled-garden” instant messaging service Mxit. 9m users in 2009.

– Tier 3: The Mobile Web used to browse WWW. 3.36m users in 2009.

– And: there are overlapping groups across these tiers!

Access with what other limits?

• Net neutrality: SA net subscribers are not locked-in to particular content providers.

• But there is still not full net neutrality:– Access is via capped and uncapped bandwidth packages,– There is also shaped bandwidth on most packages.– An example is a popular Blackberry package in SA

• Just $0.35 a day for unlimited email, surfing, social networking… but device-only and NO content downloads allowed.

• So, is limited access is better than no access…?• The answer has to be yes…but figures on “access” then

have to be qualified as to constraints on access!

Wired or wireless broadband

• By 2009, SA wireless overtook wired connections (Goldstuck):– 930000 wireless broadband subscribers; 630000 ADSL broadband – Yet: > a third with the wireless broadband also cite their primary

connectivity as their wired workplaces, so …– (again) a stratum of society that enjoys multiple connections.

• Broadband access? – OECD Broadband figures, for June 2010, said there were 699,368 ADSL

subscribers, but 3,8m wireless mobile broadband subscribers. – Discrepancy with Goldstuck may lie in the definition of broadband:

• Akamai 2010 recorded that average mobile connection speed in South Africa was 495 Kbps, below the 2 Mbps broadband threshold.

• So, access via what speeds (in upload & download)?

Putting .ZA all together

• The probable reality: broadband or near-broadband access to the internet is limited to about 14% of South African adults.

• i.e. almost 5m people (access often at their workplaces, mainly wired, some wireless to computer).

• Less ‘rich’ access is available to about 10.8m (primarily via cellphones).

• In total, almost 16m have some access, which amounts to a third of the total population and a fifth of all adults making some use of the Internet.

Who can/does make use of access?

• Divides in tech & services even within wireless access– 37m cellphone users in South Africa, but only 1.7m with smartphones.– prepaid users make up 79% of total, which inhibits data consumption– Of Vodacom’s 9m internet users, only 2m subscribe to data bundles.

• Rural-urban divide:– 39% of urban adults and 27% of rural adults use the internet on their

phones. (2011 Goldstuck estimates).

• Race … and class+language gaps:A.M.P.S (2009) figures of the 11% of adults online, gives a breakdown as:– 36% of Whites; 6% of Africans (issue correlates to class).– Issue correlates to language online .ZA resources: English dominates.

• Gaps: gender, age, electricity, literacy, physically challenged….

Measuring access means…

1. What people/enterprises we prioritise (kids?)2. How frequently people can and do make use.3. Locality: where it happens (home, work,

nomadic).4. Net access to what device and screen?5. What tech of Net access (WAP vs WWW)?6. Within what limits (shaped, capped)?7. Access to what speeds?8. With what disaggregation of users?

Recommendation• Not all ICT access is Internet access – eg. Cellphones• Our general goal is increased Internet usage by

individuals and institutions.• But not all uses are extensive enough to convert those

involved into the status of “users”.• You can’t have Internet use without internet access…• but access does not automatically translate into fully-

fledged use.• The Rapporteur’s Report should highlight that access

can mean many things, and thus that societies are urged to elaborate what they mean by the terms of “access” and “use”.

2. Definitions of universal access

The SA Regulator (Icasa) in 2010 suggested meanings for universal access & service obligations for broadcast & telecoms. •These encompassed both content issues (access in terms of culture, language, etc.), and physical access.Earlier in 2010, government issued a determination that included meanings for universal access and service for Internet :•Universal access for data services would be one public broadband internet access point per 10 000 people in a geographic community, and within 2km range per person. •Access included availability 12 hours a day, and assistance.•Affordability is mentioned as part of “universal access”, but is spelt out under “universal service”.

Definitions of universal service

• For the SA govt, universal service is defined as:– availability on a non-discriminatory basis, and – household use of internet being at least 20 hours a

week, of which no less than 10 hours would be within peak-calling rate periods, or the amount of data that being consumed as at least 500mb.

– usage charges must be affordable for > 60% of households.

– costs not to exceed 5% of their spending• RECOMMENDATION: Keep definitions updated.

3. How to get there?

We need to transcend conventional thinking:•Note: Three quarters of South African adults do not use computers.•Note: only 19% of homes have a home computer (& not all these are connected!) (A.M.P.S. 2010).

•Note: only 18% of homes have a working fixed line telephone (Research ICT Africa, 2008).

•Note: est. 50% of South Africans cannot access public or work facilities…•So, that means we have to look elsewhere than traditional desktop and fixed line access…

Looking to wireless, but what kind?

• So, a society needs a patchwork of connectivity. Incl in wireless: GPRS, Edge, 3G, wifi, LTE, WiMax

• BUT: ATT and i-phones in USA – caused major problems with data congestion.

• Note: Less than 2m households in SA have a computer, but 8.5m (of 12.3m) have a TV set… (2008 figures).

• For SA and other developing countries, could the “killer app” for universal connectivity at home be somehow using the TV set & broadcast airwaves?

The set-top box (STB) as key• Under Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting (DTT), every TV

viewing home in SA will need a STB.• STB converts digital signals for viewing on analogue TV sets.• BUT: A smart STB is a home PC, giving users options for:

– Wireless internet and sms: (eg. E-mail, social networking).– Downloads-on-demand via digital broadcast signal, triggered by

wireless upstream comms (incl by SMS)– Storage (eg. Wikipedia can be broadcast to every household).– Open API (& not only for TV value-adds)

• With DTT, the weight of heavy content can be carried by digital broadcasting! Same could part-apply to satellite…

• RECOMMENDATION: Highlight STB in Rapporteur report

To make this happen• DTT has to be seen as more than merely efficient

delivery of broadcast content, so the STB is NOT just a decoder to translate digital signals for viewing on analogue TV sets.

• Government policies need join the dots here – in SA’s case a DTT policy & a Broadband policy.

• Telecoms, ISPs, Broadcasters and other content providers (Print, Government, etc) need to work together for convergence around the STBs.

• RECOMMENDATION: INNOVATE PUBLIC-PRIVATE TECH SOLUTIONS

4. Summing up

• Access is a multi-faceted issue – there is a spectrum of access and use as regards frequency, locality, device & screen, shape, technology, speeds.

• Universality is wide-ranging - about physical access and use, but is also about content and cost.

• Wireless internet needs to dovetail with digital broadcasting if developing countries want to expand high-bandwidth Internet usage.

• Smart governmental policy is needed, and co-operation of stakeholders is required.

5. Right to Info and Access

• Beyond work on improving access at the demand side, let’s not forget the supply side – what’s online…

• SA currently has no imperative to make its public info accessible online! Yet connectivity without relevant content available is like a pipe without water supply!

• Addressing the supply side is the aim of AIMS – the African Media and Information Summit in Cape Town, 17-19 September – focused on rights AND access to information.

• It marks the anniversary of the Windhoek Declaration and World Press Freedom Day (every 3 May); the goal is UN recognition of International Right to Know Day (28 Sept).

• RECOMMEND: Govts shd action both sides of Net connection!

Pre-Internet

With all this, we can make universality possible!

Thank you.G.Berger@ru.ac.za