The second draft of the long-awaited Convergence Bill will go before Cabinet in January, says communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri.
She was speaking at the start of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers conference being held in Cape Town this week.
"The Convergence Bill was supposed to go before Cabinet yesterday, but there has been a delay due to some issues concerning broadcasting over the Web. My DG [director-general Lyndall Shope-Mafole] decided that some gaps had to be filled in and so we have the delay," she said.
The minister`s comment came in response to a question about the possibility of an amendment being made to the Telecommunications Act that would legislate lower bandwidth costs for the country.
SA`s high cost of bandwidth, in some cases 13 times higher than that of other countries, has been widely cited as hampering the roll-out of ICT services to the majority of the population.
The original draft of the Convergence Bill, a law that is aimed at regulating the link between broadcasting, information and telecommunications technologies, was criticised for being poorly drafted and not dealing with the core issue, that of convergence.
Andile Ngcaba, the former Department of Communications director-general, led the original process for the Convergence Bill, which included a convergence colloquium held in Johannesburg last year.
"I know that the Bill is a year late, but it has been tricky. The issue of broadcasting over the Internet is a reality and has to be dealt with," Matsepe-Casaburri said.
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Lower cost bandwidth on the cards
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