SECTOR 2 The Voice of the Church (VOC), owned by Trans World Radio, is also widely accessed, with an estimated coverage of 75% of the country. The station currently operates under a provisional licence in the absence of a legislative framework that provides for community radio licensing. VOC also has two channels – one in siSwati and the other in English. In addition to SBIS and VOC, there has been a push for the establishment of community radio stations. The Swaziland Community Radio Network was set up in 2013 to campaign for community radio stations in eSwatini. As noted above, however, the Broadcasting Bill is yet to be legislated and eSwatini currently does not have a clear framework for broadcasting which is to provide for the operation of community radio stations. There is one privately-owned TV station in eSwatini – Channel S. In order to access this station, one has to purchase a decoder, which is costly. The state-owned eSwatini TV is the major local player in the TV broadcasting arena. Citizens who can afford DStv can access regional and international TV networks (the cost for DStv subscription can, however, be prohibitive for the average household). Panellists noted that generally TV access is a challenge, with several areas outside of the main towns and cities unable to receive a signal. However, citizens in remote areas closer to the South African border may be able to access South African networks. Internet According to Internet World Stats, eSwatini has 446,000 internet users of which 170,000 are Facebook users. The eSwatini Posts and Telecommunications Corporation (EPTC formerly SPTC) sets the tariffs for internet use and panellists noted that costs are generally quite high. In the internet packages offered by EPTC, ‘non-profit organisations are classified as business and it is very difficult to afford the internet’. Access in rural areas is greatly limited. Wi-Fi is available but costly and one has to be within a 10 km radius of a Wi-Fi tower to make use of it. ‘As a country, we’re still behind our neighbouring countries when it comes to ICTs [Information and Communication Technologies]. In rural communities, there are a large number of civil servants, including teachers, who have no access or even exposure to the internet.’ That said, social media is being used more widely and has become an important platform for expression. ‘Social media has blown up and people have greater access to it. MTN [Mobile Telephone Network] used to have a monopoly and prices for data were crazy. But after Swazi Mobile (now eSwatini Mobile) came in (the company got its licence in February 2017 and began operating in August 2017), prices have come down drastically and affordability has improved.’ Although mobile phone signal coverage in the Kingdom of eSwatini is high, data on how many citizens have mobile phones, more specifically smartphones, is hard to find. In 2016, MTN noted that it had 800,000 subscribers. In 2017, Swazi Mobile set a target of having 150,000 subscribers by June 2018. It is unclear whether this target was met. 24 AFRICAN MEDIA BAROMETER ESWATINI 2018