Cape Town, 13 February 2001
On the 9th February 2001, President Thabo Mbeki outlined, in his address to parliament, the principal programme areas for the year 2001. The President reflected on a wide range of socio-economic and political issues, which need to be addressed in order to accelerate and consolidate national growth, development and democracy.
In the communications industry, the president highlighted various issues of which further details are given below.
As the President indicated, government has started with the process of introducing managed liberalisation of the telecommunications industry with the hosting of the national telecommunications colloquium in February 2001. The colloquium was aimed at providing a platform for different sectors of society to make inputs on the future of the telecommunications policy, and the industry in general. Government envisages finalising the policy by the end of the first quarter of 2001.
The policy process will ensure greater regulatory certainty in the telecommunications industry by creating an enabling environment for local and foreign direct investments. It is envisaged that this process will improve the competitiveness and efficiency of the sector, thereby enabling it to contribute to national growth, employment and redistribution of national wealth.
The President also announced the establishment of the Presidential International Task Force on Information Society and Development to assist government in narrowing the digital divide with the rest of the world. The task force will consists of CEOs from major international ICT corporations and industry experts.
In addition to the Task Force, government will later this year announce the appointment of members of the Presidential National Commission on Information Society and Development, which will deal with skills development issues in the ICT sector. IT companies, which have been approached to serve in the commission, have already indicated their interest.
Government welcomes the recent appointment of the CEO and other senior managers at the SABC and their collective commitment to continue with the restructuring of the public broadcaster as envisaged in the Broadcasting Act of 1999.
Consistent with government's commitment to promoting access to information as enshrined in the Constitution, the rollout of community radio stations will continue with a specific focus on under-served areas.
We believe that, given high illiteracy in certain areas, community radio broadcasting remains an integral part of development communications - a communication environment that promotes local socio-economic development. The Ministry is also strengthening this process through the development and funding of community programming development in collaboration with civil society and international development organisations.
As part of government's integrated rural development strategy, the Ministry is expediting the restructuring of the Postbank to enhance its developmental role. The Postbank will provide financial services to low income rural communities currently not being serviced by the existing mainstream financial industry.
The roll-out of the Public information Terminals (PIT) will be accelerated to provide easy and cost effective access to government information and services as part of government's programme of utilising information and communication technologies to improve service delivery in the fields of education, health, commerce and governance. The roll-out of PITs will be linked with the nodal points identified in the President's speech to meet the goals of the sustainable rural development programme.
The E-commerce policy process is proceeding as envisaged with discussions taking place between government and stakeholders as well as amongst stakeholders. The closing date for submissions to the Green Paper is 31 March 2001.
In line with local demands and needs, as well as international trends, government has fast-tracked the legislative process and plans to have E- commerce legislation by the end of 2001.
More specifically, the legislation is aimed at providing the required certainty in the industry with regard to, amongst others, security, intellectual property rights, domain names and privacy of e-commerce transactions.
The President further announced that government would go ahead with the listing of Telkom with an objective of preparing the telecommunication parastal for further liberalisation.
As part of the broader government's commitment to the African Renaissance and growth in the SADC region, the Ministry will be hosting the ITU Africa Telecoms 2001 in November 2001. The event, with a specific focus on the continent, will be attended by local and international private sector players and government institutions involved in the ICT industry.