A draft Broadband Policy had already been drawn up.
Speaking at the opening of the Broadband Policy colloquium, in Midrand, Pule highlighted that there was still “tremendous potential” for growth in broadband penetration in South Africa, adding this presented both challenges and opportunities for the developing country.
The Deputy Minister conceded that policies generally had to play catch up to technology development, but emphasised that, “policy is critical because it provides, amongst other things, certainty for players in the market place, protects the rights of consumers, and provides the framework for future developments”.
She noted that while broadband penetration had increased in the past few years, there was still a noticeable difference in availability between the rural and urban areas of the country.
“To realise the socioeconomic benefits of information and communication technology (ICT) services, one needs to ensure that every citizen has access to broadband,” Pule stated.
The country had reached an important stage in the development of ICT technologies, she noted, adding that widespread access to broadband services could transform the country and could bring benefits to citizens.
“By increasing broadband penetration we are effectively including every citizen as part of the global village. It is essential that South Africa leverage more effectively its ICT capabilities to achieve universal access and our developmental goals,” the Deputy-Minister said.
The colloquium formed part of government’s plans to deal with the broadband penetration challenges and opportunities by working in partnership with private enterprise, other stakeholders, and all citizens, she added.
Broadband would enable many applications such as e-education, e-health, e-government and e-commerce, among other things.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Mariaan Webb
Quelle/Source: Creamer Media's Engineering News, 18.11.2009
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