The Internet as important as agriculture to the South African economy
2South Africa’s internet economy is exploding. A new collaborative study by internet research company, World Wide Worx and Google has revealed that the Internet contributes as much to South Africa’s GDP as sectors such as Agriculture. (Agriculture contributes about 2.1% to SA’s GDP while the Internet contributes about 2%)
South Africa’s online economy is also growing a lot faster than its offline economy. Most importantly, the study reveals that small and medium scale enterprises will benefit the most from this boom.
The report encourages South Africa to “put the Internet at the heart of its policymaking in order to remain competitive on the global stage.” According to the report, some of the ways the government could do this include:
-investing in broadband infrastructure and putting in place policies to enable last-mile access by the private sector
-unblocking regulatory challenges around right of way permits; taking a proactive approach with regards to reallocating unused spectrum
-making e-governance a reality by putting government services online and
- encouraging SMEs to have a strong presence online
Check out a video on the report, Internet Matters: the Quiet Engine of the South African Economy, below:
