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Honourable Ministers
Members of the media

The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector is crucial for accelerated socio-economic development and delivery.

Pivotal to the creation of a prosperous, dynamic and caring society lies an urgent need to maximise the benefits of the information and communication technologies. Since 1994, we have developed policies and legislation to achieve that objective by making provision for:

Universal access, conveniences of information technologies - telemedicine, Internet, human resource development, economic growth, research and development, etc

Today, I wish to present to you an overview of the achievements of our portfolio during the financial year 2001/2002, and the key issues for implementation during the 2002/2003 financial year.

2001/2002

TELECOMMUNICATIONS

Last year, I indicated that government had started with a process of introducing managed liberalisation of the telecommunications industry.

Arising from the Telecommunications Act as amended in December 2001 we published:

* An invitation to apply (ITA) for the 19% BEE set aside in the Second National Operator. An ITA for the 51% equity interest in the SNO will be issued in March.

* Regulations for the issuing of the under-serviced area licences thus promoting local economic and SMME development

* A Gazette listing all under-serviced areas for SMME licences

* An Invitation to Apply for the Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite licence

* Draft licences for Sentech to provide international telecommunications as carrier of carriers and multi-media services. Through this new licence Sentech will contribute to Africa's renewal by providing a bridge between the continent and the entire world;

BROADCASTING

The SA Broadcast Production Advisory Body and the Digital Advisory Council were established and have begun their work.

Since we started the community radio support programme in 2000, we have installed 41 stations, five of which were installed in 2001.

About 1200-community radio programmes on women, HIV/AIDS, children, and people with disability have been produced and aired by 57 community radio stations countrywide.

The SABC extended the signal of Ligwalagwala FM to cover about 400 000 people in Schoemansdal near Mbuzini in Mpumalanga. (It was initially aimed at reaching 230 000 people). For the first time those people have access to the FM signal.

The process of restructuring and corporatising Channel Africa and Bop Broadcasting is under way. A restructured Channel Africa will offer regional, national and continental service. This will contribute to the objectives of NEPAD.

Sentech will be developed into a multimedia company, which will provide infrastructure for digital broadcasting in South Africa as well as international gateway telecommunications.

POSTAL

During the year under review we focused on stabilising the SA Post Office to enable it to carry out its mandate. We restructured the governance of the company with the appointment of the new board and management.

The Postal Services Amendment Act was promulgated in November 2001 to clarify the mandate of the Postal Regulator and the appointment of the chairperson for the regulator.

To further deepen universal access, hundred (100) public information terminals, twenty-six (26) citizen post offices, and eight (8) multi-purpose communication centres were established.

As part of our contribution to Africa's renewal, we hosted the Pan African Postal Union General Council, which deliberated on the challenges facing the postal sector in Africa.

The Post Bank will be established as a separate entity to provide financial services to poor communities.

2002/2003

Building on the successes of the financial year 2001/2002, we will focus on the following key issues in the 2002/2003 financial year:

TELEOCMMUNICATIONS

The Electronic Communications and Transaction Bill will be tabled in Parliament in the next day or two. The draft Bill for public comment will be available in our website tomorrow. We call upon the public to participate and send comments to the Portfolio Committee on Communications. The finalisation of this legislation will pave the way for a secure environment for e-commerce transactions.

The restructuring of public emergency communications to enable health, safety and security for all citizens and universal accessibility is underway. We envisage switching on the new system using the 112 emergency number towards the end of 2002.

The Universal Service Agency will be restructured to monitor and evaluate the rollout and attainment of universal access targets as well as provide subsidies for under-serviced area licences.

In order to facilitate the development of the small business sector through ICT innovations we will establish ICT incubators to be based at the Institute for Software and Satellite Applications (ISSA).

BROADCASTING

Informed by technological changes and innovations, we are preparing a Draft Convergence Bill to cater for the convergence of broadcasting, telecommunications and information technologies.

The Broadcasting Amendment Bill is due to Cabinet in the next few weeks. Amongst others, the resultant legislation will accelerate the restructuring of the SABC into the commercial and public broadcasting sections, diversify the Pay TV and Online TV markets as well as provide for Icasa to regulate these services.

To strengthen the regulator we will amend the Icasa Act

In order to enhance access and diversity we will explore the establishment of two regional television stations to cater mainly for the African languages. Research will be conducted on location and coverage to ensure universal access across the country.

Community radio stations will be established in all nodal points. SABC and Community Radio Stations will develop content and provide special programmes on moral regeneration. Nine production hubs have been launched.

POSTAL

Postal services are crucial for sustainable growth and development. With the advent of e-commerce the postal sector is being re-engineered to provide e-services. In the long run this will enable rural people to sell their products in the global market via the Internet.

Amongst others in this sector we will focus on the following:

Our department will accelerate the development and finalisation of the Post Bank legislation, which will pave the way for the corporatisation of the Post Bank. The Draft Post Bank Bill is being prepared for presentation to Cabinet. The new legislation will enable for separation of the Post Bank from the Post Office to position it to respond to the needs of the poor who do not have access to the current banking system.

Initiate a policy process to develop a framework for a National Address System. A physical address is a social and economic resource which enables citizens to participate in the economic development of society.

The Post Office will continue with the rollout of citizen post offices and public information terminals. Pilot projects will be conducted to assist communities in the use of PITs, citizen post offices and communication centres as development tools. Nodal points will be prioritised.

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

As the President outlined in his State of the Nation address to Parliament, together with the relevant departments, we will work on the establishment of an ICT University.

Before the end of the second semester, in partnership with other departments, labour, industry and other stakeholders we will host a communications sectoral summit to deliberate and explore mechanisms on how the sector could contribute to job retention and sustainable job creation.

The National Electronic Media Institute will continue with the training in the field of digital broadcasting. For this year, we have enrolled 30 students from disadvantaged communities.

Consultations with the Department of Education have started regarding the establishment of EDU-NET, which is a system of connecting all public schools to the Internet.

There are 210 students currently enrolled in the Java planet training, a further 275 will be enrolled from March 2002.

ISSA has enrolled 157 students in high-level software engineering and telecommunication. Of these, 20 women are enrolled for an MSc in software engineering.

Quincy Jones and the Department have established a Silicon Valley SA project through the QJ Listen Up Foundation to promote the use of ICT through fellowships. These have been offered to 10 people to go to the US for a year. The Board members are Mark Shuttleworth, Saki Macozoma, Mandla Mandela and Anandt Singh and Lyndall Shope-Mafole

INTERNATIONAL

Our department has advanced considerably in making its contributions to Africa's renewal and NEPAD.

Last year we successfully hosted the ITU Africa Telecom 2001, which was the first continental conference after the adoption of NEPAD. During the event we also had a meeting of the Ministerial Oversight Committee which is chaired by South Africa.

In this regard we will focus on the following key issues:

* Supporting the e-Africa Commission

* Information and communication technologies are crucial for Africa's renewal. As part of getting Africa to play an active role in the ICT sector, we will advocate for the assignment of Africa to Africa for the purposes of NEPAD and the African Union

* Lobby for the return of Afrinic -which is responsible for the management of Africa's domain names - from Europe to the continent

* Hosting of the Pan African Postal Union conference in June to consider the impact of ICTs on the postal system in Africa

Thank you.

Issued by Ministry of Communications

14 February 2002