Question NW2846 to the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services

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25 August 2015 - NW2846

Profile picture: Shinn, Ms MR

Shinn, Ms MR to ask the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services

(a) Which (i) national departments, (ii) provincial governments and (iii) local governments are financing their inclusion in the rural broadband project announced in the State of the Nation Address on 12 February 2015 and (b) in each case, (i) what amount have they committed or budgeted for this project and (ii) which elements of the project are they financing (aa) in the current financial year and (bb) for the Medium-Term Expenditure Budget?

Reply:

(a)(i) National Department of Health (NDOH) has rolled out connectivity in 34 of the 50 targeted for the NHI Pilot. The solution will dovetail and align with SA Connect once the service rollout commences following the appointment of a service provider.

(ii) At provincial level, only the Gauteng provincial government and the Western Cape provincial government have financed broadband plans

(iii) At local government level, there are various initiatives by Government and the private sector to provide Wi-Fi hotspot infrastructure and access to the public. Initiative from Tshwane and Lusikisiki are good examples were WiFi infrastructure was financed. The rollout in Tshwane cost in the order of R77, 000 per Wi-Fi site.

(b) The rollout programme of the DTPS will focus on broadband infrastructure and services for government facilities. The DTPS will aggregate government demand to ensure that there is a compelling business case for infrastructure to be extended to the rural areas. The national, provincial and local government departments will then compliment the efforts of the DTPS by focusing on the provisioning of end-user devises and equipment, applications, relevant content and the training of users of the technology. The DTPS has worked with provincial departments to establish provincial broadband steering committees that are used to ensure alignment of the DTPS programme and provincial plans.

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