Chairperson of this Colloquium
Director-General, Ms Mamodupi Mohlala
Leaders and representatives of state owned enterprise (SOEs) and other organisations within the information and communication technology (ICT) Industry
Delegates
Members of the media
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
I am told that the first day of this two day gathering was characterised by what can be best described as robust but frank discussions.
I am also told that the attendance on the first day was of good with people travelling from as far as the Free State and Limpopo, with some representing government while others are here on behalf of their organisations.
I can say then with confidence that this is a very important gathering that has as its chief objective the consolidation of varying views on the subject matter, the draft National Broadband Policy.
While some were interested in just the mere definition of the word "broadband", some were more concerned about the need to increase the broadband footprint in the country with clear monitoring mechanisms to assess progress made either on an annual or bi-annual basis. All your comments and concerns are duly noted.
Your views on what needs to be done to emerge with a formidable Broadband Policy that addresses both accessibility and affordability, will go a long way towards ensuring that we meet our shared common objective as government, private sector and civil society. I do not intend to bore you by dwelling on issues that you have already exhausted.
But please allow me to repeat what you may have heard already, something that I believe should be our starting point as we seek to address the issue of Broadband capacity, accessibility and affordability.
Fifteen years after the advent of democracy in South Africa, we have not been able to meet the objective of ensuring that as many people as possible have access to what is undoubtedly rapidly becoming a basic tool, the internet.
Statistics tell us that Broadband penetration in our country is low because of among other things, the lack of adequate infrastructure and the high cost of accessing Broadband services. The statistics put the global rate of average penetration for broadband at a mere 22 and half percent, with South Africa only accounting for just over one million broadband connections which translate to a penetration rate of only two percent. This below average penetration rate has also been confirmed by the International Telecommunications Union, the ITU.
I'm sure we all agree that this is not a desirable situation especially for a fast growing economy like South Africa which is working towards building an Inclusive Information Society as approved by government two years ago.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The slight picture I have just painted says one thing to all of us: There's a clear need to strengthen and focus our partnership as government, industry and civil society if we are to overcome these challenges.
We need to come up with a collective answer to the resolution of the United Nations World Summit on Information Society to position ICT infrastructure as the building block to the development of the envisaged information society.
Moving from the premise of the statement: "Each Person in South Africa has a right of access to broadband", we need to consolidate available resources to build the necessary infrastructure required to overcome this information divide that continues to characterise our nation and its communities.
President Jacob Zuma took a very fundamental and profound decision that this government will not seek to resolve the problems of society alone by pretending to possess exclusive wisdom, but we will work in partnership with communities to address the many social ills confronting them. This commitment has since found resonance in all departments and in all spheres of government. The Ministry of Communications and the ICT sector are not an exception.
Your decision to set aside time to come and share with us your views on an ideal Broadband Policy for a country like ours is further testimony to your understanding that we need to work together to collectively address challenges that confront us.
The challenge we face on Broadband is two pronged in my view and is also characterised by location. Those of us who reside in metropolitan areas are concerned about the speed of connectivity. This is a capacity issue. Other less fortunate fellow South Africans find themselves either in townships or far-off rural and remote communities of our country. They are yet to concern themselves with connectivity speed. They still have to negotiate the hurdle of just mere access to either telephony or internet services.
For me this is the real challenge we face. We need to come up with practical solutions to correct this situation urgently. We need to do more in either establishing or strengthening already existing Public Private Partnerships through which the state, private sector and civil society combine available but limited resources to empower our people with the necessary tools to improve their living conditions.
How do we use these partnerships to respond to the call by the delegate from the Free State to demystify technology in his community? In recent days a lot of focus has been put on the role of State Owned Enterprises as reliable and efficient agents of service delivery on behalf of the State. The focus has been specifically on the capacity and resources required for these SOEs to deliver on their mandates.
Relevant to the subject matter before us is two organisations under my Ministry's portfolio, the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa, (USAASA) and national signal distributor Sentech.
As the ICT Industry, you need to ask yourselves whether these two organisations are able to deal with the mammoth task of connecting the nation by them. If the answer is NO: Then what is it that you, as Industry, ought to do to ensure that these important SOEs are better positioned to respond adequately to the needs of our people?
Then there's Infraco. I understand that questions were raised yesterday about the suitable location of this SOE. The political responsibility on INFRACO currently resides within the Ministry of Public Enterprises despite the telecommunications nature of its business.
Regardless of its location, Infraco together with USAASA and Sentech have a key role to play in helping the country move with precision in the roll out of required infrastructure to ensure the availability of accessible and affordable broadband services. Through these entities, government seeks reach under-serviced areas where some of the private sector companies are reluctant to invest in for a variety of reasons.
The fundamental objective however remains that of collectively making ICTs relevant to our people by availing enabling services such as broadband because with information, people have choices that could help them improve their living conditions.
I am also informed that we have since received about 50 written submissions in response to the draft document on National Broadband Policy we released recently. The inputs you have been making in this meeting will further consolidate and supplement the inputs we have already received.
It is our view as government that the nation at large stands to benefit from investments in Broadband technology as attested by several international studies. On each occasion, Broadband has been identified as a key substantial contributor to economic growth, increased jobs, employment opportunities and other benefits to society such as:
* stimulating the growth of small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and cooperatives
* reducing the cost to communicate
* encouraging investment
* improved quality of education
* improved quality of health services and other government services.
You are all aware of the efforts to reduce the country's high cost to communicate. You would have noted that the Ministry of Communications was successful in negotiating with mobile operators to bring down inter-connect fees - a catalyst to the overall reduction of the cost to communicate.
With increased availability of broadband, South Africa will be able to realise more competition in the market place and this will effectively bring down the cost to communicate. A reduction in telecommunication costs benefits each citizen because of the availability of more products and services at more affordable prices.
I'm saying all these things to you, the converted, to emphasise the significance of a process like this. A process whereby government, industry and civil society combine efforts to achieve a common objective.
I wish to congratulate you on a very successful summit. On behalf of my Ministry I also wish to express our gratitude for the seriousness with which you approached this process. As I indicated earlier, comments and suggestions received during the deliberations will be considered and then incorporated into the draft broadband policy. They will be reflected in the final draft product that will be submitted to cabinet for approval.
I hope you have enjoyed your participation and valued that of others.
I thank you for your attention.
Issued by: Department of Communications
19 November 2009
Source: Sapa
