Telecommunication
Infrastructure | Informatics |
ICT Training and Development
| Broadcasting/Media
Telecommunication
Infrastructure
Responsible
Ministry: The Ministry for Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting
Telecommunication
Operator:
- Telkom South Africa (Ltd.)
provides basic telecommunication services (70% of the company is still state-owned); a
second operator license is expected for the year 2000.
- Cellular Operators: Mobile
Telephone Network (MTN) and Vodacom (50% owned by Telkom).
- Private Operators: Eskom
and Transtel
- Telecommunication Regulator: The Independent
Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) was brought into being on the
1st of July 2000.
Teledensity:
- Total: 13.77 (1999)
- Largest cities:
41.52 (1999)
- Rest of the country:
8.18 (1999)
Digital main
lines: 99.00% (1999)
Waiting list for
a telephone line:
- Total: 116,200
(1999)
- Average waiting time:
0.3 year (1999)
- Total demand (k):
5,609.1 (1999)
- Satisfied demand (%):
97.9 (1999)
Telephone
Tariffs:
| PSTN connection charge -
residential |
US$ 34 |
| PSTN connection charge -
business |
US$ 34 |
| PSTN monthly subscription
- residential |
US$ 9.1 |
| PSTN monthly subscription
- business |
US$ 11.9 |
| 3 minutes local call |
US$ 0.08 |
Source:
World Telecommunication Indicators, 2000/2001
Public
telephones: 173,060 (1999)
Public telephone
per 1,000 inhabitants: 3.95 (1999)
Mobile cellular
subscribers: 5,269,000 (1999)
Mobile cellular
subscribers per 100 inhabitants: 12.01 (1999)
Cellular
subscribers as a % of total telephone subscribers: 49.0 (1999)
Mobile cellular
tariffs (1999):
| Connection charge |
US$ 16 |
| Monthly subscription |
US$ 27.8 |
| 3 minute local call -
peak |
US$ 0.74 |
| 3 minute local call -
off-peak |
US$ 0.33 |
Source:
World Telecommunication Indicators, 2000/2001
Telecommunications
revenue (M US$): 3,935.8 (1999)
Telecommunications
investment (M US$): 1,370.2 (1999)
Telecommunications
investment as a % of revenue: 34.8 (1999)
Telecom equipment
exports (M US$): 142.3 (1999)
Telecom equipment
imports (M US$): 1,244.4 (1999)
Community access
centres:
The
telecommunications Act in November 1996 established the statutory body called the Universal Service Agency (USA).
USA’s main focus is on the provision of universal service and access of information
throughout South Africa. USA is mandated to find ways to achieve universal service,
particularly catering access and telecommunication services to the rural areas. A
Universal Service Fund was set up to subsidize "needy persons towards the cost of the
provision to or the use by them of telecommunication services," and to repay Telkom
and other license holders with universal service obligations for extending their services
to poorly or under-served communities. One of USA’s projects has been focussed on the
establishment of Internet facilities through community telecentres. The telecentres are
established through the USA franchise wherein the applicant/organization must fulfill
certain criteria set by USA. In addition to infrastructure requirements, USA’s
selection criteria also include considerations for socio-economic development of the
community to be served by the telecentre, as well as sustainability and provision for
women’s involvement. Thus far, 68 telecentre applications (including pilot projects)
have been approved throughout South Africa.
In order to assist
the Universal Service Agency in implementing the first set of telecentres, and
particularly for the "under-served" areas across South Africa, the International
Development Research Centre (IDRC) provided funding for USA through the South African
Telecentre Development Project (SATDP). This fund will be used to implement six to ten of
the first 80 telecentres planned under USA. Two of the projects are now operational: the
Turntable Trust, Bulwer [http://www.sn.apc.org/ttt]
and the Mamelodi Area Community Information Service [http://mweb.co.za/mamelodi/main1.html].
Facsimiles:
150,000 (1998)
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Informatics
Lead
Organizations: Telkom South Africa Limited, South African Telecommunications
Regulatory Authority (SATRA), Mobile Telephone Network (MTN), Vodacom, Commission for
Information Technology (established with a mandate of initiating public and private
partnerships in ICTs) and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
Computers per
100 inhabitants: 5.47 (1999)
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ICT
Training and Development
The
Telecommunication Act of 1996 created the Human Resources Development Fund.
Telecommunication licensees will contribute to the fund and these contributions will be
paid into the National Revenue Fund. The Fund will be used to pay grants and subsidies to
"promote the provision of adequately skilled human resources at all levels of the
telecommunications sector in numbers sufficient for the telecommunication needs of the
Republic."
The Act enables the
payment of the following 11 types of donations, contributions, subsidies and grants by the
Director-General:
1. Donations and
contributions to the funds of the South African Qualifications Authority (1)
2.
Telecommunication education, research and training (2)
2.1 Training and
retraining of unskilled and under-skilled persons (3)
2.2 Training of
artisans and technicians (4)
2.3 Undergraduate
tertiary education.
a. the extension or
improvement of courses of study and instruction in telecommunication, technology and
engineering at universities and technikons (5)
b. the awarding to
students of bursaries, scholarships, prizes and other financial assistance for the
purposes of undertaking any such course (6)
c. the facilitation
of the mobility of teaching staff and students of universities or technikons, between
those institutions and the telecommunication industry (7)
d. the provision of
assistance in the fields of telecommunication, technology or engineering by one university
or technikon to another (8)
2.4 Postgraduate
study and research.
a) the extension or
improvement of postgraduate and research courses and instructional programs in the field
of telecommunication, technology and engineering at universities and technikons (9)
b) the provision,
by universities and technikons, of research and other services to the telecommunication
industry (10)
2.5 Support for
science and technology at schools.
a) To secondary or
primary schools for the purposes of projects, schemes and programs to stimulate interest
among pupils in telecommunication and technology (11)
Also created out of
the Telecommunication Act of 1996 and the government’s Telecommunication White Paper
is the Houwteq Learning Centre. The learning centre is a project with a scope to respond
to market demand, enhance human resource development, research and development, and
standardization of software specifications and equipment testing. The training centre will
amongst others primarily focus on the following components:
- Telecommunications Software
Engineering
- Telecommunication equipment testing
& calibration
- Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)
and Safety
- Telecommunications Software and
Technology
- National Telecommunications Spectrum
Management R&D
- Skills Development for
Telecommunications Standards Management
- Skills Development for Information
Technology for Communications
For more
information: http://docweb.pwv.gov.za/projects/multimedia/houwteq.html
Apart for the Human
Resources Development Fund, the Department of Education has established SchoolNet South Africa. SchoolNet SA is
the national body that coordinates the linking of South African schools to the Internet.
The structure of SchoolNet SA consists of a transitional executive council with
participants from the Department of Education, Department of Arts, Culture, Science and
Technology, and regional school networking organizations. Provincial
"SchoolNets" are encouraged and supported while three advisory groups focussing
on issues of connectivity and technology, human resource development and training, and
content generation and curriculum will provide direction for SchoolNet policy. The
National SchoolNet office is currently funded and housed at the International Development
Research Centre’s Regional Office for Southern Africa in Johannesburg.
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Broadcasting/Media
South Africa’s
broadcasting industry is scheduled to be open for competition in the year 2000. One of the
areas in broadcasting that will be opened to competition is signal distribution. The Independent
Broadcasting Authority (under the Ministry of Posts, Telecommunications and
Broadcasting), is responsible for regulating broadcasting signal distribution. IBA
interprets signal distribution competition as "the establishment of transmission
infrastructure, maintenance and operation of signal distribution facilities by or on
behalf of the broadcasters."
There are two
carriers of signal distribution in South Africa at the present time: Sentech and Orbicom.
Sentech is the largest of the two and was originally the signal distributor for South
African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). In April 1998, Sentech was established
as autonomous public enterprise. Telkom provides telecommunications links between studio
and transmission sties and between transmission sites.
Since
telecommunications, information technologies and broadcasting technologies are beginning
to converge, the need to merge the IBA and SATRA becomes more urgent. The merge is
scheduled to take place in March 1998; however, due to a variety of reasons, the merger
has been put on hold. One of the issue is that the two authorities are at different levels
of establishment and that outcomes of from the Broadcasting Act issued in 1998 have raised
a number of additional constraints.
The issue
exists of whether the convergence of media and telecommunications technologies should be
promoted in the South Africa to create a multimedia industry. SATRA believes that
convergence should be promoted through the interaction of Government, regulators,
multimedia service providers and network providers/signal distributors. Extra care must be
taken in order that the two policy goals are both necessary, the building of a multimedia
industry and the provision of universal telecom services, do not impede on each other,
hence retarding South Africa’s potential as a player in the global information
economy.
Broadcasting and
Media Agency:
- The Independent Broadcasting
Authority (IBA) is the responsible body for licensing media broadcasters. It also
formulates the broadcasting policy but this responsibility will be transferred to SATRA
once the government approves the merger between SATRA and IBA.
Radio and
Television Operators:
- National Television Operator:
The South African Broadcasting
Corporation (SABC) broadcasts are in 11 official languages in three full-spectrum
channels. BBC World Service can be seen on Channel 2 while CNN International can be seen
on channel 3.
- Private TV Operators: E-TV,
M-Net, and DSTV
- National Radio: SABC Radio
- Other Radio Stations:
- Private Radios: 5FM, KFM,
Radio Pulpit, Radio Oranje, Cape Talk, Highveld Stereo, 702 Talk Radio.
- University Radio: 104.5
University of Cape Town Radio, 89.7 Rhodes Music Radio
- Amateur Radio: Zululand
Amateur Radio Club
- Radio Trunking Operators:
Q-Trunk, One-2-One, and FleetCall
Radios per 100
inhabitants: na
Television per
100 inhabitants: 12.9 (1999)
Cable TV
Subscribers: na
Home
satellite dishes/antennas: 227,000 (1999)
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