Question NW3745 to the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies

Reply:

South Africa’s broadband policy (SA Connect) was adopted by Cabinet in December 2013 to meet the country’s vision of a seamless network by 2030. This will make broadband universally accessible at a cost and quality that meets the needs of citizens, formal and informal businesses, and the public sector. In September 2021, the Department embarked on a process to consider an alternative approach to ensure rapid broadband roll-out with due regard to fiscal constraints.

In January 2022, Cabinet approved the implementation of the SA Connect Phase 2 revised model. The revised model comprises the following:

• Community and household connectivity.
• Government facilities connectivity.
• Universal Service Obligations to connect public service institutions.

Targets:

1. Community and household connectivity - BBI and SENTECH will extend their networks and onboard Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to deploy 32 055 Wi-Fi hotspots to enable 5 573 258 household coverage.
2. Connectivity to government facilities - SITA will provide and maintain connectivity to 14 342 government facilities across the country as part of its mandate as per the SITA Act.
3. Universal Service Obligations – Telcos that were assigned licensed spectrum by ICASA during the recent auction have social obligations to connect 33 431 sites made up of 18 520 schools, 5 721 hospitals and clinics, 949 libraries and 8 241 tribal authority sites over 60 months from date of licensing.

Furthermore, the spectrum licensed to mobile operators has coverage obligations to ensure that their networks are expanded to increase population coverage. The Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies finalised and published in a government gazette the Rapid Deployment Policy to support the roll-out of digital infrastructure by putting in place the enabling framework.

Thank You.