World Telecommunications Day 2006 - Time to Take Stock
In an increasingly competitive and interconnected world, a country's investment in ICT infrastructure, skills and the knowledge economy at large holds the key to its future success. Access to broadband services and the full spectrum of opportunities presented by convergence is critical to South Africa's long-term development and prosperity.
However, South Africa is faced with the dual challenge of stimulating and growing its formal economy while at the same time building the second economy and responding to vast historical socio-economic backlogs. In addition to the challenges of high unemployment and the impact of HIV/AIDS, only 1 in 12 South Africans have access to the Internet and there are only 147,000 broadband users in the country.
Today, 17 May 2006, is World Telecommunications Day (WTD). It commemorates the founding of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) on 17 May 1865. In addition, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on 27 March 2006 proclaiming that 17 May 2006 will also be the first World Information Society Day (WISD).
The aim of WISD is to broaden the objectives of WTD, with the focus on raising awareness of the opportunities the Internet and ICT can bring to societies and economies, as well as ways to bridge the digital divide. The theme of WTD/WISD 2006 is "Promoting Global Cybersecurity".
The celebration of WTD and WISD presents us with a timely opportunity to reflect on the telecommunications challenges and opportunities facing South Africa. The World Competitiveness Yearbook 2006 ranks South Africa 44th overall out of 61 countries. However, South Africa is ranked 59th in terms of technology infrastructure, and very last in terms of Internet costs. This incongruence has far reaching implications for increasing universal access, responding to socio-economic challenges, creating an enabling environment for doing business in South Africa and attracting foreign investment.
Numerous reports produced by the South Africa Foundation, SMME Forum and others in the past year have highlighted the scope and impact of high telecommunications costs in the South African economy, while the Department of Communications convened two colloquiums during 2005 to discuss telecommunications pricing.
Although the uptake of mobile communication has experienced phenomenal growth over the past decade and one in every two South Africans owns or has access to a mobile phone, making a fixed or mobile call in South Africa is still one of the most expensive calls in the world.
To make problems worse, efforts to transform the telecommunications environment in South Africa have not been helped by the delay in issuing the licence for the Second National Operator (SNO) only issued in December 2005); the ongoing Telkom monopoly and the government's failure to act decisively in this regard; capacity constraints at the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) which impacts on its ability to effectively perform its mandate; and the problematic performance of the Universal Services Agency (USA) and the underserviced area licences (USALs).
To summarise, there is very little that has not yet been said about the problems associated with high telecommunications costs in South Africa. However, decisive action in response to this situation by both government and the telecommunications industry continues to be lacking.
At the end of 2005 the government introduced the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA) which is aimed at achieving economic growth of at least 6 percent between 2010 and 2014, and halving poverty and unemployment by 2014. ASGISA provides a framework for the investment of R370 billion in public infrastructure. It also coincides with South Africa's preparations for hosting the FIFA Soccer World Cup in 2010 and the expected impact of this event on the economy both before and after the event.
New ICT and telecommunications interventions are seen as key to the success of ASGISA. During the past week the Minister for Public Enterprises, Alec Erwin, indicated that the government will soon make a number of announcements in this regard. These will include policy directives targeted at reducing local and international connectivity costs, funding for Sentech's wireless broadband network, the terms and conditions for participation in the East African Submarine Cable System (Eassy)which is scheduled to be operational by 2008, and efforts to stimulate and develop the call centre industry.
These are all very important initiatives and hopefully represent the start of a new telecommunications dispensation in South Africa.
During the SANGONeT Conference in March 2006, the Deputy Minister of Communications, Roy Padayachee, challenged the NGO sector to position itself to work more effectively with government in support of eradicating poverty in South Africa. This is a fair challenge. However, it also requires that government provides the necessary strategic framework for meaningful cooperation by transforming the telecommunications environment in the best interest of all South Africans.
Failure to respond to this challenge will not only have serious implications for South Africa's short and longterm socio-economic objectives, but also its international reputation.
However, South Africa is faced with the dual challenge of stimulating and growing its formal economy while at the same time building the second economy and responding to vast historical socio-economic backlogs. In addition to the challenges of high unemployment and the impact of HIV/AIDS, only 1 in 12 South Africans have access to the Internet and there are only 147,000 broadband users in the country.
Today, 17 May 2006, is World Telecommunications Day (WTD). It commemorates the founding of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) on 17 May 1865. In addition, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on 27 March 2006 proclaiming that 17 May 2006 will also be the first World Information Society Day (WISD).
The aim of WISD is to broaden the objectives of WTD, with the focus on raising awareness of the opportunities the Internet and ICT can bring to societies and economies, as well as ways to bridge the digital divide. The theme of WTD/WISD 2006 is "Promoting Global Cybersecurity".
The celebration of WTD and WISD presents us with a timely opportunity to reflect on the telecommunications challenges and opportunities facing South Africa. The World Competitiveness Yearbook 2006 ranks South Africa 44th overall out of 61 countries. However, South Africa is ranked 59th in terms of technology infrastructure, and very last in terms of Internet costs. This incongruence has far reaching implications for increasing universal access, responding to socio-economic challenges, creating an enabling environment for doing business in South Africa and attracting foreign investment.
Numerous reports produced by the South Africa Foundation, SMME Forum and others in the past year have highlighted the scope and impact of high telecommunications costs in the South African economy, while the Department of Communications convened two colloquiums during 2005 to discuss telecommunications pricing.
Although the uptake of mobile communication has experienced phenomenal growth over the past decade and one in every two South Africans owns or has access to a mobile phone, making a fixed or mobile call in South Africa is still one of the most expensive calls in the world.
To make problems worse, efforts to transform the telecommunications environment in South Africa have not been helped by the delay in issuing the licence for the Second National Operator (SNO) only issued in December 2005); the ongoing Telkom monopoly and the government's failure to act decisively in this regard; capacity constraints at the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) which impacts on its ability to effectively perform its mandate; and the problematic performance of the Universal Services Agency (USA) and the underserviced area licences (USALs).
To summarise, there is very little that has not yet been said about the problems associated with high telecommunications costs in South Africa. However, decisive action in response to this situation by both government and the telecommunications industry continues to be lacking.
At the end of 2005 the government introduced the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA) which is aimed at achieving economic growth of at least 6 percent between 2010 and 2014, and halving poverty and unemployment by 2014. ASGISA provides a framework for the investment of R370 billion in public infrastructure. It also coincides with South Africa's preparations for hosting the FIFA Soccer World Cup in 2010 and the expected impact of this event on the economy both before and after the event.
New ICT and telecommunications interventions are seen as key to the success of ASGISA. During the past week the Minister for Public Enterprises, Alec Erwin, indicated that the government will soon make a number of announcements in this regard. These will include policy directives targeted at reducing local and international connectivity costs, funding for Sentech's wireless broadband network, the terms and conditions for participation in the East African Submarine Cable System (Eassy)which is scheduled to be operational by 2008, and efforts to stimulate and develop the call centre industry.
These are all very important initiatives and hopefully represent the start of a new telecommunications dispensation in South Africa.
During the SANGONeT Conference in March 2006, the Deputy Minister of Communications, Roy Padayachee, challenged the NGO sector to position itself to work more effectively with government in support of eradicating poverty in South Africa. This is a fair challenge. However, it also requires that government provides the necessary strategic framework for meaningful cooperation by transforming the telecommunications environment in the best interest of all South Africans.
Failure to respond to this challenge will not only have serious implications for South Africa's short and longterm socio-economic objectives, but also its international reputation.
(This article was first published on the SANGONeT portal on 17 May 2006 to coincide with World Telecommunications Day 2006)
posted by David Barnard at
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