ATC130611: Report of the Portfolio Committee on Communications on its Strategic Planning Workshop, dated 11 June 2013
Communications and Digital Technologies
Report of the Portfolio Committee on Communications on its Strategic
Planning Workshop, dated 11 June 2013
The Portfolio Committee on Communications (the Committee), having conducted its
Strategic Planning Workshop at the Villa Via Hotel on 17 to 19 April 2013,
reports as follows:
Executive Summary
The
Committee held its strategic plan workshop at Villa Via on 17 to 19 April 2013.
The aim was to inform the Committee on its annual plan for the 2013/14 financial
year. The workshop further developed and outlined priorities for the
Committees 2013/14 financial years programme. Activities of the strategic
plan workshop addressed the following areas:
-
evaluated the past performance of the Committee;
-
assessed the performance of all state-owned
entities in the ICT sector;
-
afforded the industry players to address the
Committee;
-
identified
strategic priorities for the Committee for the period 2013-2014;
-
identified the critical success factors
necessitated by a fast-changing sector; and
-
designed
systems and a programme of action for the Committee for the current
parliamentary term.
The
workshop was divided into two parts: the first day and half of the second day
(17 and 18 April) were open to the sector players where presentations were made
under the theme universal service and access while the last half of second
day and last day (18 and 19 April) were closed sessions for members of
Parliament and support staff only. Participants for the entire workshop
included:
·
Committee members;
·
Support staff;
·
Entities of the Committee;
·
Sector players; and
·
Subject matter experts.
The key areas covered during the opening of the workshop
were the impact of the policy and regulatory environments and the relevance in
a converged environment. Critical to the discussions was the relevance of the
above-mentioned environments in aligning the sector to the developmental state
agenda. More importantly, it is the relevance of the policy and regulatory
environments in achieving the desired information society and knowledge economy
agenda as prescribed by the global treaties which the Republic ascribes to and
the implications thereof for local content production. In particular, the information
revolution (change in the mode of production), globalisation of markets and
modernism and post-modernism were central to this discussion.
The topology of point to point versus point to multi-point
communications was critical and was therefore unpacked in detail by the
facilitator for the purposes of contextualisation of discussions. Further the
facilitator summarised the four critical areas for a turn-around strategy:
1.
Vested
interest in healthy economy
2.
Possibilities that will help contribute in building a
sector
3.
Sector that will be the foundation of the economy of
the future
4.
Globalisation changing the way we produce and consume
Convergence as the ICT driver was also
unpacked by the facilitator as illustrated below:
Lastly, the rationale for digital
broadcasting and broadband was unpacked in detail by the facilitator. For more
information regarding the facilitators presentation, please refer to
Annexure A
.
Summary of
Presentations by Sector
It was
evident that from the presentations by the sector that convergence was not only
technological but also necessitated the need for a converged policy environment
approach which will require adaptation by parliament in its oversight role of
the sector as illustrated below:
A common
thread of discussions emanating from proceedings of Day One and Day two was
underpinned by the
universal service and
access
theme and is evidently summarised herewith below:
Harmonisation of Legislation and
Regulations
Policy Coherence
Evidence-Based Policy Development
Policy
and regulation
coordination
(Executive Vs Regulator)
Policy Acceleration
Regulatory Impact Assessments
Monitoring
of
Compliance and Enforcement
Clear National Broadband Vision
Establishment of a Broadband Commissioner
Professionalism in the public sector
Inter-Committee Sessions
Partnerships
Localisation of technology, skills, and
content
Improving ICT Indexes
Clear definitions of US
Viability of the 3-tier broadcasting
platforms in a digital era
More effective and efficient oversight and
monitoring of government departments, state entities, independent regulator and
state agencies
Standardization of Reporting Lines (Project
plans, business processes)
Re-evaluation of DoC as a Policy Maker
Events are overtaking the Policy-making
Process
Clear definitions of roles and responsibilities
between the delivery organs of the State
Need for the Committee to revisit
SoEs
mandates to establish:
Why they were established
Are they doing what they are mandated to
do?
Is their role to create revenue or deliver
services?
Urgency to address the Policy and
Regulatory vacuum as means to respond to current challenges
Further, the Constitution,
State-of-the-Nation Address, the National Development Plan, National Growth
Path and the Industrial Policy Action Plan II were identified as policy and
government frameworks that underpin the future development of the sector as
illustrated below:
Crosscutting from all presentations of the proceedings was
the alignment of priorities to the National Development Plan (NDP) five
priority areas:
1.
Job Creation
2.
Infrastructure development
3.
Rural development
4.
Social Cohesion & Transformation
5.
Skills Development
Summary of
Proceedings for the Closed Session with Committee Members
There was
consensus by the members as necessitated by the realisation that the
policy
development has been overtaken by the evolution of technology developments. As
a result the sector players have had to proceed with technology implementation
without a clear policy and regulatory guidance.
In addition the following were deemed critical by the Members to resolve
the current sectoral challenges:
·
The current status quo is disempowering to
the Members of Parliament in carrying out their oversight duties, i.e. the
rotation of MPs is rendering the work of the portfolio ineffective;
·
Tools for Members of Parliament are needed to monitor
the DoC and ICASAs implementation of key government programmes and must have
clear implementation plans as a driver for tighter oversight and control;
·
Streamlining of innovation in the projects is critical;
·
Industry and academia presentations (at least
quarterly or midyear) with the Committee - this is also part of the broader
capacity development of the Committee and support staff;
·
Conduct inter-committee sessions to address and
resolve cross-cutting policy matters
·
Accelerate the process of passing legislation; and
·
Tighter screening of appointees nominated through
public process and going through Parliament processes.
In relation to DTT
as a national priority programme, the facilitator acknowledged some evidence of
the economic effect from countries that have attempted to calculate the costs
and benefits of the switchover. The most immediate benefit is the release of
radio frequency spectrum otherwise referred to as the digital dividend.
Members
further identified a number of major dependencies
going forward in planning for DTT and the work of Parliament, such as the
various government departments, the regulator (ICASA), State-Owned Companies (
SOCs
), civil society organisations and the private sector.
It was evident from the comments of the
Members
that a more consolidated approach by government is
fundamental to the achievement of this important policy direction. This
requires a broader stakeholder consultation with the identified institutions
which will be unpacked in detail is the proposed stakeholder matrix.
On issues of
Broadband, the members expressed urgency to the delivery of the broadband
policy as critical success factor in order to ensure that the attainment of un
iversal
access. Fundamental to this issue was the
broader implications relating to the cost to communicate as well as
consolidation of all relevant stakeholders and the sparse approach by
government in delivering broadband to citizens. The regulators efficiency and
effective regulation was identified by the Members as the single-most critical
success factor to ensure promotion of competition and universal access.
There are five Key Priority Areas as
consolidated by the Members of Parliament after the workshop and are summarised
below. For a detailed report on the Action Plan, please refer to
Annexure B:
FOCUS
AREAS
|
|
Priority
Focus Area I
|
1. DoC
Oversight
|
2.
State-Owned Entity Oversight
|
|
3.
Provincial Oversight visits
|
|
Priority
Focus Area II
|
1.
Stakeholder Matrix Development
|
2.
Sectoral Consultations
|
|
3.
Oversight Booklet Formulation
|
|
Priority
Focus Area III
|
1.
Legislative Review Processes
|
2.
Policy Review Process
|
|
Priority
Focus Area IV
|
1.
Business Reengineering Recapitalisation
|
Priority
Focus Area V
|
1.
Cost to Communicate
|
A proposal of a Dashboard Monitoring System
(below) was also presented to the Committee as a practical tool for oversight
of State-Owned Entities.
COMMITTEE
REVIEW LEVEL:
DoC -
BOARD LEVEL REVIEW
It is
important to note that the Committee resolved that the Programme is subject to
consensus before final adoption.
Further,
the budgetary implications can only be finalised thereafter.
The proposed budget grand total is R2
850 000. The total budget breakdown is attached as
Annexure C
.
Annexures
A, B and C are available from the
Committee Secretary upon request.
Documents
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