President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation Address shed light on government's plans to expand its renewable energy programmes, while making little mention of ICTs.
Zuma said government would "expand, modernise and increase the affordability of information and communications infrastructure and electronic communication services, including broadband and digital broadcasting," although no specific details were given about how this would be done.
He said SA Connect - government's broadband policy - would be crucial to achieving aims of moving forward.
It was Zuma's second State of the Nation Address this year, owing to last month's national and provincial elections. In his February address, Zuma noted that 37 000km of fibre laid by the private and public sectors would be expanded, although details were also unclear.
Green energy
Zuma said SA's energy needs called for a "radical transformation of the energy sector" to create a sustainable energy programme that includes solar and wind energy in addition to coal, nuclear and hydro power.
A Cabinet sub-committee will be responsible for the oversight, co-ordination and direction of activities for the energy sector, added Zuma. He said government would use its Renewable energy independent power producers programme, to "take advantage of wind, solar, biomass and other technologies that increase the opportunity for rural development".
He also shed light on the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, saying government will finish building more than 60 dishes for the MeerKat project in the next five years, with the first 100 dishes for the SKA expected in the same period.
SA is co-hosting the SKA project along with eight other African countries, Australia and New Zealand. The project aims to build the world's largest radio telescope to explore the mysteries of the universe.
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