Just do it

The past six years have seen some memorable changes in the ICT industry - companies delisting, retrenchments, consolidation, rand volatility, Cabinet shuffles, and the smartphone revolution.

I can only wonder what the next few years will bring, as tech continues to advance, the Internet of things takes hold and smart cities become a reality. Sadly, I suspect SA will seriously fall behind in this shift because the tale of the local IT economy is one of constraint.

That's why Telkom has finally clicked that it needs to reinvent itself and become a more agile player in a constantly changing market, a market in which consolidation is bound to accelerate. And that's why Vodacom is spending R7 billion to buy Neotel, so it can have access to spectrum and fibre and thus tap new revenue streams.

The constrained environment is also why operators are re-farming spectrum so they can get long-term evolution going - the superior mobile broadband connection that promises way faster speeds than most plebs get.

SA's constrained IT sector can be seen in the numbers of listed companies. MTN, Vodacom and Telkom are all battling to get their top-lines to improve, and need to explore new sources of income. Yet, without government actually fast-tracking the release of high-demand spectrum, they are going to have to constantly innovate around what infrastructure they already have, pumping billions into the ground each year.

Government's inability to move with anything representing real speed has been one of the biggest - if not the biggest - obstruction for the IT economy. Very little of substance has been implemented, and the one time a minister (Yunus Carrim) was appointed who could actually do something, he was shuffled out and the communications department mysteriously split in two.

President Jacob Zuma's decision to create a propaganda department and one responsible for infrastructure had analysts banging their heads in frustration, and - a year down the line - the proof is not in the pudding, because the pudding hasn't even made it to the oven!

Take digital TV, for example - that debacle has been going on for almost 10 years now, and the country completely missed the analogue turn-off deadline this month. We're so far behind with migration we haven't even officially turned on digital signal.

Then look at the South African Police Service's R7 billion spend on hi-tech equipment that constantly needs refreshing because it's taken that department - and three others - 10 years to not implement a project. The list goes on almost endlessly.

Despite the failures, there are success stories. Dimension Data is one of these, having been bought out by Japan's NTT almost five years ago for more than R20 billion. And, even though MTN is battling to grow its top line, it is Africa's biggest cellular operator and a fantastic export from our shores.

DigiCore is another success story, with that company's tech being bought in a R1 billion deal by a US-based entity. Good on DigiCore.

I suspect SA will seriously fall behind in this shift because the tale of the local IT economy is one of constraint.

South Africans have what it takes to make a go of it: invent great tech, make it big on the world stage, use technology to become fantastic scientists, engineers, doctors and teachers, and really make a difference in the world.

The IT sector also has the potential to help dig the economy out of the stalled mess it is in and add jobs, create entrepreneurs and expand educational access to all. Yet, the Internet Society notes the Internet economy only contributed 2% to SA's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011, a figure expected to reach 2.5% by 2016.

By comparison, the average contribution of the Internet economy to GDP in the most advanced economies, such as the US, was 4.1% in 2010, which is expected to grow to 5.3% by 2016. The average for developed markets was 4.3%, growing to 5.5% by 2016, and for all developing markets it was 3.6% in 2011, which is expected to grow to 4.9% by 2016.

That SA is ignoring a potentially lucrative sector is nothing new; we all know what technology enables: from automated homes to learning via video conferencing and tablets for rural-based kids; and self-driving cars in between.

Sadly, that potential is being wasted because government is too busy doing goodness only knows what instead of empowering business to go out there and make it happen.

We need broadband for all, we need more spectrum, and we need to encourage foreign companies to invest in SA instead of buying out what talent has made it onto the international stage. It's time to pull up our collective socks and do something.