Q People’s Daily Online:

A large number of businesses in China are taking advantage of the internet and have been developing rapidly. Do you see such a trend in SA in the near future?

A EDDIE MBALO: This is a worldwide phenomenon and any society that seeks to keep its people informed but also conduct business effectively and efficiently has to take advantage of the internet. SA — and the rest of the continent — has to ensure that access to broadband is affordable to bring the rest of its people on board.

BOB WEKESA: Yes — but with the right policies, plans and implementation. 

RANDALL RHATEGAN: Internet penetration in SA, although better than in most African countries, can still be improved. Affordability appears to be an inhibitor in SA, but I expect that prices will reduce as competition increases. This will lead to more companies taking advantage of the benefits of the internet.

LISA XIE: Definitely, broadband roll-out and take up has been very slow in SA. Data has been prohibitively expensive for most South Africans, but is gradually becoming cheaper.

We are also seeing far more aggressive roll-out of fibre to the home, which we believe will unlock tremendous value in several related industries.

We are playing catch-up, but government and the provinces are trying to roll out access to all South Africans as part of the NDP.

China has made significant progress in the past 20 years. The internet penetration rate between rural and urban areas has been narrowed due to the popular and wide use of electronic devices such as cellphones, smartphones and tablets.

It’s well known that China developed the largest e-commence market in the world. Although e-commence is still in its infancy stage in SA compared to the Chinese market, more and more Chinese companies have spotted potential growth opportunities in SA.

We have assisted some Chinese companies to set up e-commerce operations, as well as logistics and courier services management.

KENNY CHIU: Rapid urbanisation across Africa and a growing middle class are driving demand for infrastructure development and consumer spending. The e-commerce sector is further boosted by a significant uptake of mobile phone in Africa.

The Chinese co-invested Kilimall, Kenya’s largest online shopping portal, is changing the way consumers shop in Kenya, although Kilimall is not operating in SA at the moment but I foresee that competition in local online shopping market will become more robust, creating new consumer behaviour and ancillary industry such as logistics and financial services.

STEVEN KUO: With the third largest number of internet users in sub-Saharan Africa, SA definitely offers potential for internet-based businesses. However, these opportunities come with challenges.

Cyber-attacks are a particular concern in SA due to a number of factors, including relatively low levels of cyber security spending, an inadequate government response to cyber threats, and the popularity of pirated software in the country.

(The story was originally published on Business Day on May 4th, 2016.)