Analysis of Factors Responsible for Low Patronage of Fixed Line Broadband Internet Access in Ghana

Abstract

The internet has become an extremely important modern day technology for business and made a lot of activities very easy. It is used for almost all purposes, even with important issues such as in education and government organizations. In view of these benefits, various technologies have been developed to connect users to the internet. Some of these technologies include dial up, ISDN, DSL, satellite and mobile broadband.

The purpose of this paper is to find the causes of low patronage of fixed line broadband internet access (DSL using landline) among households in Ghana. The paper employs qualitative research design whilst the survey method (both interview and questionnaire) was applied as the data collection methodology.

The main findings were that most educated people in Ghana are computer and internet literates and perceive the internet as important. It was also found that many people are of the view that fixed line broadband internet access is expensive and slow. More importantly, most people are ignorant about fixed line broadband internet access and do not know the advantages that fixed line broadband internet access has over its competitors. Finally, it was discovered that fixed line broadband connection is absent in most communities and where it exists, most people complain of lack of money to subscribe to the service.

Based on the findings, the paper concludes that low patronage of fixed line broadband internet access is attributable to ignorance about fixed line broadband internet access, lack of knowledge of completive advantages of fixed line broadband internet access, low income among households, lack of fixed line broadband connections in most residential areas, high cost of subscribing to fixed line broadband internet access and slow pace of downloading and uploading information using fixed line broadband internet access.

The paper ends by recommending, among other things, that the general public be sensitized on the use of fixed line broadband connections, internet users must be educated on the advantages of fixed line broadband internet access through the mass media, bandwidth speed must be improved, a study be carried out to find out if price reduction of fixed line broadband internet access will make ISPs financially viable and consequently lead to increase in demand services and finally, a study be conducted on the financial viability of expansion of fixed line broadband connections to more localities.

Keywords: fixed line broadband, Internet service providers (ISPs), internet users and VODAFONE Ghana.