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“Townships should have same access to broadband as Sandton” – telecoms minister

People living in townships should have the same access to broadband as people living in Sandton. That’s the view of minister for Telelcommunications and Postal Services, Siyabonga Cwele, speaking this morning at the annual Southern Africa Telecommunications Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC) conference in Port Elizabeth.

Cwele’s speech was one of the strongest commitments the new minister has yet made to the National Broadband Policy, South Africa Connect, drawn up by his predecessor Yunis Carrim. In it, he promised that public responses to the green paper based on the policy would be published some time over the next couple of months, with a full white paper scheduled for before the end of the financial year.

Under SA Connnect, says Cwele, government will play the lead role in coordinating the creation of new broadband networks to guarantee universal access by 2020. Telkom chief Sipho Maseko also spoke in a keynote presentation in which he made a bid for Telkom to be at the heart of a national backbone.

“The benefit of universal broadband is well understood, and is linked to job creation,” Cwele said, but “strategic infrastructure and economic and social benefits require critical mass.”

“Someone living in a township should have same access to broadband as someone living in Sandton.” he added, “it enables social inclusion [and] a more involved and active citizen.”

At the heart of SA Connect is a plan to push broadband access to schools and hospitals in order to improve services and get infrastructure into rural areas that can then be extended to local homes and businesses. Cwele reiterated that the target of connecting at least half of all schools and government facilities through public-private partnerships by 2016 was still a key goal for his department.

“The department is visiting all provinces to facilitate alignment across the three tiers of government,” he said, “which is crucial as we seek funding to connect 500 clinics, 4 000 schools, 500 offices in the medium term.”

Stay tuned for more SATNAC coverage throughout the day.

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