Programme Director, Mr Avendth Tikadari
Our hosts, The CEO Mr Suresh Kana and the Management of PWC
Director-General and the senior leadership of the Ministry and the department
Representatives of the ICT sector
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
It is now about nine months since the Minister and I took over office with a promise to increase the interaction between government and the information communication technology (ICT) industry in an endeavour to find common solutions to the challenges facing our country.
This decision was necessary since government alone cannot address the social and economic challenges, especially the scourge of underdevelopment and poverty, afflicting many South Africans in rural and poor urban settlements.
This meeting follows the recently held summit with the Top 30 ICT companies in South Africa and is in line with the Minister’s commitment made in the media briefing on the 11 November 2010 to engage with various sectors in the ICT Industry.
Our purpose today is to develop an integrated strategy to forge government-industry partnerships in the creation of jobs. It is a direct response to President Zuma’s call to mobilise all sectors of society into the national efforts to create more jobs.
Nine (9) months later, we remain committed to establish a working partnership with all tiers of the industry, focusing on interventions based on clear and measurable outcomes.
In his State of the Nation Address, President Zuma further reiterated government’s commitment to work with all stakeholders, including the business community, towards the attainment of shared national goals. The President particularly mentioned the need to forge partnerships to facilitate the creation of jobs in light of growing unemployment in the country.
As you all know, the country is currently faced with a double digit unemployment rate, including many South Africans who have given up looking for jobs.
This is undoubtedly a big affront to our constitutional order, which in addition to political and civil rights that give all of us the freedom of association and speech, also set out the right to social and economic development.
These rights are indivisible and reinforce each other. We cannot therefore talk about a complete human rights order until we have attended to the plight of our people – the future of our democratic order will depend on the extent to which we respond to this national challenge.
In announcing our road map, I highlighted a number of flagship projects that will accelerate the growth of the sector to meet the challenges i have referred to. Our flagship projects are:
Broadband rollout
For South Africa to reap the benefits brought by information and communications technology, government has started a process to develop a comprehensive national broadband strategy. This process will be subjected to thorough consultation within and outside government to ensure that state interventions and those of the private sector always complement each other.
We intend to place a significant amount of time and resources towards promoting universal service and access in rural and under-serviced areas in the country.
At the same time, the national broadband strategy will deal with the development of smart technologies and cities in the metropolitan areas and other towns. In other words, we need to ensure that everyone should benefit from our collective investments.
Digital broadcasting migration
Notwithstanding recent delays in the rollout of digital terrestrial television broadcasting, the process is now back on track; we still plan to switch on the digital signal in April 2012, with the dual illumination period ending in December 2013.
This is a shortened migration process, compared to other countries, yet we believe that it is possible because of the nature of the partnership we have established with all role players in the value chain.
Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) offers immense opportunities for the sector to take advantage of new innovations. In particular, government has taken a deliberate decision to use this opportunity to facilitate the local manufacture of Set-top-Boxes (STBs) and other related facilities.
While, hitherto, more emphasis has been placed on STBs, it is time to think expansively and consider opportunities in the entire value chain. Once all the relevant policy issues have been finalised, we will convene an industry briefing on the state of readiness and, as indicated, the formal launch will take place in 2012.
Postbank rollout
There are still many South Africans without access to banking infrastructure which denies them a right to participate in the economic mainstream. Since the finalisation of the Postbank Act, we are moving with speed to corporatise the Postbank into a fully functional banking facility to cater for the needs of the poor. We envisage that the establishment of the Postbank will also create jobs while also contributing to local economic development.
E-skills
Development in the sector and the country as a whole will not happen without the required skills and innovations. An e-skills revolution is needed if we are to compete with other developing countries in the ICT sector.
Sufficient progress is taking place in our endeavour to create an e-skills institution which initially is being incubated within the department with a medium term plan to establish it as a standalone institution.
Consultations with relevant government institutions and universities have been ongoing for some time, and in the future we will engage industry to ensure that the new e-skills dispensation responds to the real situation on the ground. There should be a symbiotic relationship between industry and the e-skills Institute.
Job creation and rural development
All the major initiatives mentioned above should help us resolve the current high unemployment rate. Job creation and rural development are the cross cutting domains in the other priorities hence we meet here today to talk about the role of industry and state owned enterprises (SOEs) in job creation. This engagement forms part of an array of stakeholder consultations, which will include further meetings with civil society and other private sector entities.
The New Growth Path recently unveiled by our government has identified the ICT sector as one of the sectors that should contribute to job creation. Together with the other network sectors such as education and heath, we are expected to create over 100 000 jobs by 2020. Other socio-economic sectors will also meet their respective targets.
It is envisaged that jobs in our sector will be created across the entire value chain of the ICT and postal sectors, including infrastructure rollout, content development, access to banking facilities, creative work and animation.
In this regard, the Department of Communications has started to identify direct jobs that will be created through its interventions and those of the SOEs. For the purposes of this discussion, I wish to present the preliminary outlook of the jobs that can be created by the department and its entities as follows:
Project/initiative and total number of jobs by 2020
1. Infrastructure Development (Access Centres) - 7 880
2. Broadband Infrastructure - 160 000
3. Creative digital industries (including content development) - 8 580
4. BPO, SMMEs and co-operatives - 42 790
5. Digital Set-top-Boxes manufacturing - 24 300
6. Postal sector and Postbank Rollout - 24 190
Indeed the attainment of this targets will require us to improve our planning, implementation and project management, and correct allocation and utilisation of scarce national resources. Effective governance and the accountability of SOEs will also add the necessary impetus to this daunting journey.
The jobs that the department and the SOEs can create are far much miniscule compared to the overall capacity of the ICT sector as a whole. Without your active participation, government and the SOEs cannot make a significant dent in overcoming the scourge of unemployment and poverty afflicting many South Africans in rural areas and poor urban settlements.
We have thus convened this summit to allow you an opportunity to give feedback on how the private sector will contribute to this national call. The summit has been designed in such a way that it enables us to come out of here with a working framework to take us a one step forward.
I am indeed mindful, that your own ability to contribute to job creation will also depend on the creation of a stable policy and regulatory paradigm, which is the responsibility of the department and the regulator, Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA). Inthis regard, the following activities will be undertaken to create an enabling environment for sustainable job creation:
- Finalisation of the licensing of high demand spectrum in the 2.6Ghz and 3.5 GHz bands
- Mandate ICASA to commence work on the digital dividend review, looking at the needs of all broadcasting and electronic communications services
- Review the current funding model of ICASA through an amendment to the ICASA Act
- Development of the National Broadband Plan which will also assist in efforts to unlock the Universal Service and Access Fund
- Commencement of the manufacturing of Set-Top-Boxes as soon as the standard is gazetted by South African Bureau of Standards (SABS)
- Finalisation of the corporatisation of the Postbank
- Fast track the incubation of the ICT e-Skills Institute
- Medium Term endeavour to improve policy making and regulation by the introduction of established evidence-based methods such as Regulatory Impact Analysis as a basic requirement in our decision making.
Since the State of the Nation Address, the government has allocated over R10 billion for initiatives that are aimed at job creation. I thus encourage industry players to take advantage of this fund to help create jobs in the country. On our side, we will also engage the job fund and the Development Financial Institutions (DFIs) to increase their investments in the ICT and Postal sectors.
While the focus of this engagement seeks to deal with the immediate challenges, it is important that we should discuss with the future in mind. As indicated in our preliminary discussion in Johannesburg, we should engage with a view to set up a process towards the Vision 2020.
Our approach to this meeting seeks to give you an opportunity to make inputs on a various issuesthat can spur on the growth of the sector with its positive social and economic outcomes. I therefore invite all of you to engage on any matter of interest consistent with the our collective challenge and resolve to create a just and equal society through the uptake and usage of information and communication technologies.
We envisage that this engagement, will culminate in a declaration, solidifying the partnership through measurable outputs and outcomes. The declaration emanating from this meeting follows a similar one entered into between government and the Top 30 ICT companies. In our discussion with the Top ICT companies few weeks ago, they committed to create One million jobs by 2020.
To facilitate continuous engagement and the implementation of the partnership, I will establish a small task team comprising some of the organisations present. Because of the number, we may not be in a position to include everyone, but an endeavour will be made to ensure that there is feedback in the work of the task team.
Conclusion
We are confident that working in partnership with the ICT sector, we can achieve the targets we have set ourselves. Together with the ICT sector, we will work for change using technology to work for a better life for all our people and generating an innovative and globally competitive ICT Industry to accelerate the development and prosperity of all South Africans.
Thank you!Source: Department of Communications
