Govt mum on 2010 ICT spend

By Christelle du Toit, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 21 Nov 2007

Government`s spend on ICT for the 2010 Soccer World Cup is only to be revealed in next year`s budget speech by finance minister Trevor Manuel.

Yesterday, deputy finance minister Jabu Moleketi addressed the media on government`s 2010 progress, saying treasury is reviewing the budget submitted to it and would only reveal figures in February.

However, he disputed the figure of R3 billion to R5 billion that industry expects the state to spend on ICT, saying "no one said it would be just that amount".

In September, 2010 Local Organising Committee IT head Zakes Mnisi said government should have clarity on its ICT spend by November, specifically relating to last mile connectivity.

Yesterday, Department of Communications (DOC) deputy director-general for infrastructure development Rosey Sekese was not yet willing to reveal the last mile spend, but said the DOC has given itself 18 months to complete the project.

This would place the start date for the project in March 2008, as the completion date is set for October 2009.

She added: "Telkom has started the capacity upgrade of the national backbone in order to have the ability to re-route traffic."

Escalating costs

Yesterday`s media conference was dominated by the news that overall 2010 government spend, initially set at R17 billion, will escalate by between R2.8 billion and R3.4 billion.

However, Moleketi would not break this escalation down into how much is related to stadiums and construction, and how much to ICT and other projects.

However, analysts believe ICT is unlikely to contribute much to the expected escalation, as economies of scale generally bring down ICT costs.

Mike van den Bergh, COO of Gateway Communications, notes that while he does not doubt government has an ICT budget in place, "it needs to be out in the open".

BMI-TechKnowledge senior analyst Richard Hurst says government is probably holding back on revealing figures, as it is difficult to pinpoint what costs relate directly to ICT.

"There are all kinds of projects hanging off [2010], such as a dedicated Tetra network for FIFA and international cable connectivity," he explains. "Government will have to extract the ICT spend and they are probably still waiting for clarity."

Going it alone

Meanwhile, Sekese said there was no reason to be concerned at the dismissal of the ICT industry advisory body for the 2010 World Cup, as there is "sufficient capacity" within the DOC to manage the ICT mandate for the event.

"We have a wealth of experience internally," said Sekese, quoting her own engineering qualification as an example of this.

However, Van den Bergh and Hurst warn that it is not wise for the DOC to go it alone, even though the industry body was accused of pursuing its own interests.

"There is such a wide knowledge base to call upon from the industry and this is, after all, a project of national importance," says Van den Bergh.

Hurst agrees, saying all that is needed is to manage the agendas involved, as these "are to be expected".

"Closer co-operation between industry and government would have been desirable," he adds.