There is substantial overlap between the people in these two groups. Most of them live in rural areas. Paul G. Bermingham, regional team leader for Europe and Eastern Africa Telecommunications and Informatics Unit, The World Bank Washington, DC Marlee Norton is NTCA's director of program development. In rural black areas, the teledensity is less than one phone for every 100 people. Telkom, the country's national carrier, is plagued by fraud and theft.
Copper cable contains alloy and is in demand by the foundry industry.
Fiber cables are recycled as decorations. These are among the many problems that H. Nape L. Maepa is working to solve. Indeed, nine other countries in addition to the United States passed their own telecom acts that particular year. This interview, conducted during NTCA's First International Conference on Rural Telecommunications, reveals that the challenges Maepa faces in implementing the South African act are not unlike those faced in other developing countries. In essence, the government placed upon Telkom a significant level of universal service obligation in exchange for those exclusive rights over a five-year period.