Expect ICT policy decisions in 2007

By Damaria Senne, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 14 Dec 2006

Cabinet will make a number of ICT policy decisions next year, says Department of Communications director-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole.

Shope-Mafole, who heads the technical support committee of the Information Society and Development Inter-Governmental Relations Forum, addressed the forum's first meeting in Kempton Park this week.

She said one of the issues that should be presented to Cabinet is that SA adopts a medium-term goal where the country positions itself as a leader in harnessing ICT for socio-economic development.

"In the long-term, the goal would be to establish SA as an advanced information society in which ICT tools and information are key drivers of economic and societal development.

"Countries have different reasons for investing in others, and SA needs to give potential ICT investors reasons as to why they should invest."

State of ICT

Shope-Mafole said while the ICT sector is not doing as badly as the media would have people believe, challenges still remain.

These include the high cost of communication, which she noted had dropped considerably in the past year, accessibility of ICT infrastructure and the shortage of skills.

She explained the policy action that will be taken to lower the cost to communicate in 2007 will include examining local loop unbundling, mobile operators self-providing and ensuring South Africans have access to telephony in case of emergencies.

Shope-Mafole said the local loop unbundling timeframes report, indicating the deadline by which Telkom's network from the exchange to the home will be equally accessible to all network operators, is due by the end of 2006.

Mobile operators will also be able to self-provide for international connectivity by March, at the latest, she added.

She noted that consultations on the issue of linking municipal ICT broadband acquisition capability to underserviced area licensees will take place by July. A frequency spectrum audit, to free up additional radio frequencies for new entrants, will also occur by July.

In addition, government will look at ensuring emergency calls will be made possible for citizens even when their telecoms service is disconnected for non-payment.