wide co-ordinating committee for the Information and Communications Technology
(ICT) industry
7 December 2006
The Department of Communications will tomorrow host the first meeting of the
Sector Wide Co-ordinating Committee for the ICT industry for the 2010
Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Soccer World Cup at
the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria.
The Deputy Minister of Communications, Mr Radhakrishna R Padayachie,
announced the establishment of the Sector Wide Co-ordinating Committee for the
2010 World Cup during the department's Budget Vote speech in Parliament earlier
this year.
"Our ability to be technologically and ICT ready to host the 2010 games is
absolutely crucial to our successful hosting of the 2010 soccer games. Central
to this is our ability to deliver on the Ministerial guarantees on ICT made to
FIFA," said Mr Padayachie.
The committee that will be chaired by Mr Victor Moche, will comprise
stakeholders from the ICT sector, including representatives from the State
Owned Enterprises (SOE) overseen by the Department.
The sector wide committee is a crucial building block to ensure that the
country meets its FIFA ICT guarantees signed by the Minister of Communications,
Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri. The guarantees entail ensuring that the country
builds and avails telecommunications and broadcasting infrastructure and
networks to deliver a successful world cup.
In terms of broadcasting infrastructure, the country needs to ensure the
establishment of the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC), a reliable
broadcasting infrastructure backup to the IBC and establishment of media
centres at stadia with the necessary ICT infrastructure to broadcast the games
to the continent and the rest of the world.
The meeting will discuss the roles and responsibilities of different role
players to ensure the country delivers on the Information Technology (IT) and
telecommunications infrastructure requirements of FIFA.
The meeting starts from 09h00 to 11h00. The media will be allowed to
interact with delegates after the meeting at 11h00.
Enquiries:
Albi Modise
Cell: 083 490 2871
Richard Mantu
Cell: 072 488 1520
Issued by: Department of Communications
7 December 2006
