The Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (Usaasa) has asked the public what universal access to communications should mean. The government has said it plans to close the agency.
A discussion document was published in the Government Gazette on Thursday, TechCentral reported. It asks whether the minister’s 2010 rules on universal access and universal service should be updated. Comments close on 30 October.
The 2010 rules were published as Government Notice 85 in February 2010. They set targets for public access points, household access, affordability and broadcasting. Those targets applied for no more than two years.
Usaasa said the old targets “must not be presented as current targets” without separate legal checks. It said it still has to confirm the legal status of the 2010 rules. The document names no targets that replaced them.
The agency’s preferred plan is what it calls a “targeted revision”. This would keep the split between shared public access in communities and services that homes or people can get on their own.
The updated definitions would include broadband and emergency communications. These would have to come at a quality and cost that allow “effective use”, Usaasa said.
The document proposes no numbers. It sets no minimum broadband speed, no affordability limit and no maximum distance to a public access point. Usaasa said these benchmarks would be worked out later, with their own consultation.
The document said a fixed speed or percentage should not be adopted without testing its effect on low-income households. Satellite, wireless and fixed services could be treated equally if they meet the required standard.
The document also warned against relying on one access figure. Citing Icasa data, it said 82.1% of households had internet access from any location in 2024. Only 17.4% had access at home.
Usaasa is also consulting on which needy people qualify for support. A second document covers how subsidy applications and payments should work. Comments on both close on 30 October.
Communications minister Solly Malatsi has approved the first manual for the Universal Service and Access Fund. Usaasa said it has run the fund without one since it was set up in 1997.
In a reply to a question from the DA’s Tsholofelo Bodlani, approved on 4 September, Malatsi said closing Usaasa “must be preceded by legislative enablement”.
A separate bill would turn the fund into a Digital Development Challenge Fund and close Usaasa. That bill has not been published. It must go to a group of ministers and then to cabinet first.
Malatsi’s reply also showed how the fund spent R521.2 million in 2025/2026. About R430.7 million went to the switch from analogue to digital television. Broadband projects got R83.3 million.
Malatsi said the bill to close the agency could be introduced in Parliament “in the next financial year”.
Source: this article is based on reporting by TechCentral. Image: TechCentral. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Technology desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Werner Jacobs covers technology for Tzaneen Voice. Werner reports on mobile networks, data prices, internet access, smartphones, apps, AI, cybersecurity and South African tech companies. Each story explains what a new product, price change or policy means for ordinary users in South Africa.