SA slips in global ICT rankings
AN ANALYST has called on Communications Minister Dina Pule to implement short-term measures to accelerate the roll-out of broadband infrastructure urgently.
AS SA slips further in the world rankings on information technology, an analyst has called on Communications Minister Dina Pule to implement short-term measures to accelerate the roll-out of broadband infrastructure urgently.
SA was ranked 70th out of 114 countries in the World Economic Forum (WEF) global information technology report released on Wednesday. Rankings are determined — among other things — by a country’s regulatory and business environment, the use of information and communication technology (ICT) and its effect on the economy and society.
The WEF said the economies of countries using digital technology grew faster and created more jobs. According to the report, good broadband internet access contributed between 0.25% and 1.4% to economic growth in a country.
“Countries that fail to see the importance of advancing broadband, run the risk of large losses to competitiveness,” it said.
According to the WEF, even though SA improved its ICT infrastructure and bandwidth in the year, this was due mostly to the private sector.
Last week Ms Pule published the draft national broadband policy for public comment. SA ranked 33rd in the WEF rankings based on companies’ ability to use ICT to improve their productivity.
WEF rankings put SA in 102nd place when considering criteria such as how importantly a government regarded ICT policy, state efforts to plan for this sector and the avail- ability of online government services. “We need to do something urgently, because the competitiveness of the country is falling rapidly,” Denis Smit, MD of BMI-TechKnowledge, said yesterday.
He said the government should look into short-term measures to accelerate broadband roll-out.
Some of those short-term measures could include the release of radio frequency spectrum and allocate it to companies to roll out wireless broadband networks.
Radio frequency spectrum is critical to the provision of broadband services.
Mr Smit said the government should also expedite the approval process for fibreoptic cable deployment to facilitate the rapid roll-out of a fibre network.
Companies embarking on that form of broadband network roll-out had to apply to several institutions in national, provincial and local governments for approval — which was often time consuming.
Mervin Miemoukanda, an analyst at Frost & Sullivan, said all stakeholders should come to the party as the government was not singlehandedly able to invest in the development of broadband services. “So, while we are waiting for the national broadband policy to be rolled out, service providers, for example, should continue to lobby Icasa to review the requirements for 4G spectrum and local loop unbundling,” he said.
Spiwe Chireka, programme manager for telecoms at International Data Corporation, said while intervention was needed, it should focus on long-term solutions.
She said the issue around the release of spectrum needed to be treated carefully as any short-term decisions may affect long-term plans around broadband.
She said the policy should rather be completed first before any decisions were taken. With Sapa