Description
It is widely believed that many services in South Africa are over-priced. There are frequent complaints in the media by business and consumers about the high cost of telephone calls, the poor quality of rail or port services.
Although there is disagreement over the magnitude of such over-pricing, its existence has been borne out in a number of research and consultancy reports. Infrastructural services such as transport and communications provide significant inputs into the production of other goods and services in addition to any direct contribution they make to the economy. Reforms that reduce their prices might thus be expected to have knock-on effects on the rest of the economy.