Planned ICT policy a risk
LEADING information and communications technology executive Mteto Nyati says the government’s proposed ICT policy will drive investors away from the most critical industry in the country, and have devastating consequences for the economy.
Until last week Nyati was CEO of MTN South Africa, which he had begun turning around after a disastrous few years. Then, seemingly out of the blue, he announced that he was leaving to become CEO of ailing electronics group Altron – which he intends to restore to its former glory by focusing on ICT. He starts in April.
Having spent years in senior leadership positions at IBM and Microsoft before he was headhunted to rescue MTN South Africa, Nyati has more experience of the ICT industry than most. And he believes it has the potential to play a critical role in South Africa’s economic growth.
But this potential will be destroyed if a white paper on ICT policy being pushed by Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Siyabonga Cwele is implemented.
The policy, which is driven by the government’s desire to see more emerging black players in an industry supposedly dominated by “white monopoly capital”, advocates for the creation of a new entity that will have a monopoly over the supply of radio frequency spectrum to all players in the ICT industry.
“All the current mobile operators will have to get out of the infrastructure business and buy it from this one company,” says Nyati. As a result, they will compete only on service, not infrastructure.
“This is not something we have seen working anywhere else.” says Nyati.
The minister, he says, is risking the future of South Africa’s ICT industry without understanding the consequences.
“This industry is an enabler of almost everything, whether financial services, insurance, retail – just about anything you care to mention, your IT is an enabler of that.
“If you start to create problems or make mistakes in the industry it is going to affect the entire economy. We have been trying to help the minister understand that we need to find a hybrid model here. We have given him a proposal which addresses his political objectives but at the same time protects the industry.”
Nyati sounds far from confident about the outcome.
“The white paper does not communicate a good message about this country when it comes to investment. Who will want to invest in ICT in this country? Nobody.”