Cheaper Broadband for Academics

Treveor Manuel has announced a new initiative to offer cheaper broadband to Academics to facilitate and foster research. This is really something which the government has been slow to address. Broadband should be available at discounted rates to students and especially for postgraduate students. When they are not on campus, they have to access the Internet using their own resources. Just today, an Honours student came to our offices to discuss some part-time research and writing work. However, he accesses the internet using a dial-up. And this is horribly slow. To really be productive as researchers, we need the fastest possible connections. And it is our opinion that a special network is unnecessary. The better approach is to offer a subsidy to registered postgraduate students at all universities. Say, for example, a 50% discount on the ADSL or other broadband offering would be a tremendous step in the right direction. And even if these students are part-time like the typical MBA student or a studying through UNISA, the same rules should apply.

Anyway, here’s a story about the government’s steps toward cheaper broadband for Academics.