SA disconnect leaves

In December 2013, the Cabinet approved the SA Connect policy, a broadband roll-out plan to deliver fast, affordable internet across the country by 2020. The first phase would bring broadband to schools, health facilities, government offices, Thusong one-stop service centres and post offices in eight rural district municipalities.

The policy was considered so important that it was included as part of the nine-point plan announced by President Jacob Zuma in his 2015 State of the Nation address. A year later, in his 2016 address, he promised the government would “fast track the implementation of the first phase of broadband roll-out to connect more than 5000 government facilities in eight district municipalities over a threeyear period”.

In 2015, the treasury announced it would put aside R1.1-billion for SA Connect over the next three years, up from R740-million and, in the 2016 budget, a further R500-million was allocated.

Clearly, broadband is viewed as a priority for delivering services, although there was criticism last year that even R1.6-billion is not enough, given the size of the task.

Despite the financial allocation and priority attached to this programme, it has been plagued by problems and the roll-out of broadband has essentially been stalled.

Late last year the State Information Technology Agency decided to cancel the tender for this service, citing a lack of qualified bidders.

It is not clear now how the government will proceed but it is critical that we start to see some progress on expanding overall access to broadband services, particularly in underserved areas in the townships and rural areas.

It is well known that broadband has powerful economic effects. It promotes productivity and innovation, and can also play an important role in delivering social services and alleviating social inequality.

India, like South Africa, suffers from enormous inequality and has instituted a “digital India” programme to bridge the divide between the haves and have-nots and to create a digital society. The foundations of this programme are social media,