Question NW1607 to the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services
17 June 2016 - NW1607
Bagraim, Mr M to ask the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services
(a) How much money was allocated for the installation of wi-fi networks in (i) metropolitan areas, (ii) cities and (iii) towns and (b) from which programme(s) was the money sourced; 2) Whether the Wi-Fi sites in each of the specified sites will become assets of the respective municipalities; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details; 3) (a) who will maintain the specified sites, (b) how were service providers to install and run the specified sites chosen and (c) what provisions are in place to protect the data privacy of users of the specified sites; 4) What is the fate of the 112 emergency number programme now that its funding has been diverted to the installation of Wi-Fi networks in the specified sites?
Reply:
The Department has advised me as follows:
(1)(a)(i)(ii)& (iii) The Department made available R40m from its budget, which was distributed amongst the 6 Metropolitan municipalities based on their proposals on the extent of the expansion of their WiFi programmes:
|
Metro |
Funding |
|
Nelson Mandela Bay |
R 6m |
|
City of Tshwane |
R 8.9m |
|
City of JoBurg |
R 7.8m |
|
City of Cape Town |
R 4.6m |
|
Ekurhuleni |
R 7.4 m |
|
Mangaung |
R 5.3m |
|
TOTAL |
R 40m |
(b) The Wi-Fi project funding was reprioritised from 112 emergency number programme
(2) The Department is not rolling out and building Wi-Fi sites for the Metros. The Department provided funding to supplement Metro Wi-Fi Projects and the sites will become assets of the respective Metros.
(3)(a) The Municipalities are responsible for the maintenance of the sites
(b) The Service Providers were sourced and procured by the Metros guided by their procurement processes
(c) All Metros have data privacy plans in place to address privacy and data security risks when deploying the Wi-Fi network solutions
(4) The 112 emergency number programme from DTPS is currently on hold. Should funding be made available, the Department would need to ensure that there is sufficient funding for the entire life of the project.
The Department and DoH in partnership, are exploring various funding mechanism to set up the 112 emergency service.