Johannesburg — METROPOLITAN councils will have to play a bigger role in increasing internet access, said a report yesterday that follows news of a marginal slowdown in the predicted broadband take-up for this year.

Despite price cuts from SA's largest broadband Digital Subscriber Line provider, Telkom, in response to increased competition, by the end of this year there will be only 3% more people with access to the internet, according to a report by technology consultancy World Wide Worx.

This translates into about 3,85-million people -- just one in 12 South Africans -- expected to have access to the internet, up from 3,73-million last year, the report said.

World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck said that in order for the country to increase internet access, as well as competitiveness for SA cities, lower-priced wireless offerings would need to be rolled out in major metropolitan areas.

"By 2010, 7-million to 8-million people could potentially benefit from more involvement in internet accessibility," Goldstuck said, adding that this depended on whether "everybody comes to the party".

"At present we are not seeing the political will to achieve this," he said.

Businesses and the government have, however, said that high tariffs for phone calls and internet use are deterring investment and impeding the rollout of communication services to the poor.

While Durban, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria have all expressed their intention to get involved in municipal rollouts, tender processes have been proving problematic.

While the introduction of municipal internet could negatively affect industry players initially, Goldstuck said they would have to focus more on service than price -- something that municipalities were not renowned for.

World Wide Worx said that although demand for broadband would nearly double this year, this was off a reasonably low base and showed more of an upward migration of current users than a newly introduced group of internet users.

The study revealed that while there will be more than 800 000 broadband subscriber accounts active in SA by the end of this year, these represented only 650 000 separate individuals.

"The majority of broadband users are simply migrating up the connectivity food chain, from dial-up to broadband. So, while the haves get more, the have-nots remain locked out."

Goldstuck said that once Neotel, the second fixed-line operator, became involved in catering for the broader market as opposed to only businesses, connectivity would increase.