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19 July 2007

The Director of proceedings
Mr Angus MacRobert, CEO of Internet Solutions
Mr Thomas Jankovich
Business executives
Ladies and gentlemen

It is indeed a great pleasure to have this opportunity to be with you this morning at this conference organised by Internet Solutions.

The Information Communication Technology (ICT) market in South Africa certainly recognises Internet Solutions as one of South Africa's leading Technology Company and a cutting edge innovator in the field of converged communications. Since its establishment 14 years ago the company has become a leading provider of network services both locally and in the African business community.

Internet Solutions must be congratulated for its organising of this event convened as Internetix .The event, I am told is now in its eighth year and has gained a phenomenal reputation in the market place.

Your conference today, organised around the theme "Visualising Converged Communications" offers an excellent platform for the creative development of ideas and exchange of cutting edge technology. The day is designed to be thought provoking, insightful and inspirational.

Judging from the eminence of the delegates present at this conference it certainly promises to be an invigorating and energetic platform .You have successfully mobilised very many businesspersons of high calibre spanning business owners, executives, information technology managers, managing directors and many other ICT practitioners.

So, I am quite delighted to support this event by being present and to share a few of my thoughts and visions of the ICT sector in South Africa and government's perspective to its further development.

I shall not venture to speak about the future nor forecast about what it is likely to be, as an eminent Future World Guru in the person of Mr Thomas Jankovich will address you. He is most eminently qualified to address you about these matters.

Save to say that Wolfgang Grulke, in his book, "10 Lessons from the Future" reminded us that the 20th century bore witness to some of the most dramatic changes humanity has ever undergone .The view he articulates is that despite the fact that:

* the automobile changed the world
* the airplane made it possible to have breakfast in Paris and lunch in New York city
* radio and television delivering news from all over the world in real time
* nuclear energy being unleashed for both good and bad.

The changes brought about by the Internet will turn out to be the most dramatic of all of this. The Internet collapses both time and distance and forever changes the way we live, learn, work and play and will be central to the creation in the modern world of a futuristic digital lifestyle that will be excitingly ubiquitous.

He reminds us that despite the fact that we may not be able to predict with exact certainty what the future world will precisely be like, the one thing you can be sure of is that:

"You will spend most of the rest of your life there…
…and you will never get out of it alive".

The future that we are seeking to make happen is firmly located within the context of the President's address to the nation, made in 2004, when he highlighted the need for us to develop an economic model for South Africa that will accelerate economic growth and facilitate the development of a better life for all in the country.

In this context, President Thabo Mbeki, emphasised the need to put into practice interventions that would strengthen the first economy while, at the same time, developing and growing the second economy.

An absolutely central element in this strategy for intervention has to do with the need; "to lower the cost of doing business", in South Africa so as to make South Africa more competitive and attractive to greater investment.

As we apply this call to the ICT sector of the economy, it must be widely accepted that ICTs play an important role in the development of a country. ICTs are one of the levers of economic and social transformation and growth.

Telecommunication services have become a central part of our everyday life and living, thereby assisting in bringing about improvements in the quality of life of all our people; and leading ultimately to the entrenchment of democracy and the establishment of social cohesion within our society.

In accelerating our pursuit of a better life for all, in January we reminded ourselves that government must work with all South Africans to implement detailed programmes that are intended:

* to raise the rate of investments in the country
* to reduce the cost of doing business
* to ensure that the Public Sector discharges its responsibility as an active player in the growth, reconstruction and development of our country
* to accelerate the process of skills development.

During the State of the Nation Address delivered in Parliament this year, the President provided us with a further perspective within which to pursue these national tasks.

He reminded us that:

"none of the great social problems we have to solve is capable of resolution outside the context of the creation of jobs and the alleviation and eradication of poverty" and that, "the struggle to eradicate poverty has been and will continue to be a central part of the National effort to build the new South Africa."

In the face of this formidable challenge the Department of Communications has always held the view that Information Communications Technologies (ICTs) have an enabling role to play in economic development and are critically central to the strategies to eradicate poverty.

In this regard our work has over the years focused on three central areas, namely:

* to reduce the cost of communication
* bridging the digital divide and enhancing universal access
* addressing the challenges of the ICT skills deficit in the country.

Our work in the last few years has revealed that there can be no hope of meeting these challenges successfully, if we do not address the difficulties associated with:

* building, expanding and modernising the ICT infrastructure
* creating a new legislative framework to provide a new licensing regime that will enable the absorption of the rapidly modernising innovative technologies that are emerging in the ICT Sector (e.g. ECA Act).

Deregulating and creating more competition in the sector and opening it up to more players. The realisation of the inextricable connection between ICT as a trampoline for development and a tool to leverage us out of poverty was underscored by the commitment made by the Presidential National Commission (PNC)
"To establish South Africa as an advanced information society in which information and communications technology tools are key drivers of economic and societal development".

The Presidential National Commission (PNC) on Information Society and Development (ISAD) was set up with a mission to help build an inclusive information society in which human rights, economic prosperity and participatory democracy are fully realised by optimising the use of ICTs.

The PIAC, made up of international advisers, is the International Advisory Council advising the President and the PNC on matters of ICT. Cabinet adopted the National Information Society and Development Plan (ISAD), developed by the PNC on 7 February 2007.

This ISAD Plan is informed by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Plan of action and the development challenges facing the country. What the department has been undertaking in the last few years, as the lead agency in government for ICT developments, has been to establish a policy framework for the Information Society in South Africa.

During 2002, the Electronic Communications and Transaction Act was promulgated. The main purpose of this Act was to provide for e-commerce but it also included sections on e-government, the need for an e-strategy and strategies to meet universal access.

Last year, we enacted the Electronic Communications Act, which provided the legislative framework for the convergence of technologies and the establishment of a new licensing regime for

The ICT sector

Realising the importance of the Regulators role in the transformation required in the ICT sector, the Department of Communications also promulgated the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) Amendment Act aimed at strengthening the Regulator by providing greater financial resources and legislative powers.

These Acts provide the basis for a number of initiatives to develop an exciting programme to develop an Inclusive Information Society. Our current focus in our work is to develop an effective Broadband Strategy and to ensure that the process of Digital Migration happens seamlessly and smoothly and in time to guarantee our capabilities to host the Federation International Football Association (fifa) World Cup scheduled for 2010 in South Africa. One of the key elements in our strategy going forward is to facilitate a multi-sector partnership between the State, the private sector and civil society to implement a programme of activities to increase access to and the uptake and usage of ICTs across society and in doing so, help bridge the technology and knowledge gaps between the first and second economies.

The initiative is intended to ensure the effective implementation of ICT legislation policies and projects. It will integrate into existing development plans at a National level and involve cross-cutting work with a range of government departments.

This programme of activities will be implemented under the rubric of an, "ICT for all" programme, of which the overall goal is to create an enabling environment for the development of an Information Society and shared knowledge economy that is more inclusive of all people in South Africa.

A crucial element for the successful implementation of this programme will be the forging of public-private partnerships (PPPs) between the State, the business community and civil society actors.

It is in this context that I wish to extend an invitation to all of you who are here and the companies that you represent to join with us in executing this innovative and imaginative programme that will transform the ICT landscape over the next few years.

In conclusion let me make the following remarks:

All of us here accept the reality that we have to function in an increasingly globalised digitally networked economy. A World in which at the touch of a keystroke we are able to traverse vast distances between us, crossing borders and closing time zones by the transmission of information, data and images in a matter of seconds.

Our ability to communicate and to be in touch is almost instantaneous and ubiquitous.

What this means is that if we are to be a leading nation in the knowledge economy in a globalised world we have to be up to it, up there and competing against the best in the world.

It means that we have to overhaul our capacities as a Nation in the various arenas of policy and regulation, infrastructure, human capital development, industrial enterprise, research innovation and development and public and private sector investments in information and communication technologies.

What is needed is nothing short of a revolution in ICTs to make South Africa a winning and leading nation amongst the World's best.

This challenge is a task that falls on the shoulders of every one of who are here and also those who are not here and who are at home.

We have to mobilise the passion and commitment of a massive array of forces, both within government and in the private sector and in the general populace as a whole. We will have to assemble a critical quantum of social forces, develop a mass momentum of consciousness and activism amongst the masses of our people and generate a higher level of awareness and consciousness of the need to participate in the digital economy and to be connected within a broad movement of "ICT for All".

It is this critical force that must be the vanguard and lead an ICT revolution in South Africa.

I trust that your deliberations at this meeting will help develop the momentum for this campaign.

I have raised my hand and thrown my hat in the ring.
I trust that you will join me.
I have no doubt that you will!
I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Communications
18 July 2007
Source: Department of Communications (http://www.doc.gov.za)