Despite being Africa’s economic powerhouse, South Africa has fallen behind in terms of the number of people per 100 that have access to fixed and mobile broadband, Saab Grintek Technologies CTO Suraj Ramlall said on Tuesday.

Broadband in South Africa was generally concentrated in urban areas and, while many South Africans had Internet access in some form or another, there was no ubiquitous access to high-speed broadband.

“It is a tragedy,” he told delegates at the Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference, in Port Elizabeth.

Ramlall highlighted that only 2.2 South Africans out of every 100 had access to fixed broadband, with Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt reporting larger ratios.

In terms of mobile broadband, only 26 out of 100 South Africans had access, a lower figure than in Ghana, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Namibia.

Reiterating the benefits of broadband access for an economy, he pointed out that a 10% rise in broadband penetration would see South Africa’s gross domestic product growth, currently under 3%, become comparable to that of Africa’s growth of over 5%.

The leveraging of satellite technology could cost-effectively support the roll-out of ever-present connectivity.

The “unrealistic” high cost of fibre and copper technologies made these difficult to roll out, particularly into rural areas, where it was deemed unviable.

Wireless technologies, such as third-generation and long-term evolution, were more cost effective and ubiquitous; however, satellite technology was immediately available and offered a cost-effective solution to satisfy consumer demand.

“Satellite is a fit,” Ramlall said, noting that the KA Band covered South Africa seamlessly, with high throughput and abundant capacity, and was cost-effective and easy to install.