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ITU to drive rural broadband in SA

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 31 Oct 2014
Telecoms and postal minister Siyabonga Cwele and Brahima Sanou, director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau, in Korea on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of the Department of Communications.)
Telecoms and postal minister Siyabonga Cwele and Brahima Sanou, director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau, in Korea on Sunday. (Photo courtesy of the Department of Communications.)

The United Nations' International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will undertake a project with SA to test new, sustainable approaches to bring broadband connectivity to rural post offices in the country.

The news comes after the ITU's plenipotentiary conference in Busan, Korea, at the start of the week, saw a meeting between telecoms and postal services minister Siyabonga Cwele and Brahima Sanou, director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau.

The ITU says the collaboration will see SA's rural post offices being able to "deliver essential digital financial and other services to their communities".

The project will be implemented in cooperation with the Universal Postal Union as well as partners from industry and civil society.

The initiative, says the ITU, is in line with SA's national broadband policy - drawn up under the watch of former communications minister Yunus Carrim in March - SA Connect.

"[The policy] aims to provide affordable, high-capacity and reliable connectivity to support advanced applications and services for government, businesses and consumers, with a special emphasis on rural and underserviced communities," the ITU says in a statement.

"This new collaboration also reinforces ITU's regional initiative to extend broadband infrastructure in Africa, as endorsed by the World Telecommunication Development Conference earlier this year."

ITU secretary general Hamadoun Tour'e lauded the initiative, saying: "Broadband is a truly transformational technology. It can generate jobs, drive growth and productivity, and underpin long-term economic competitiveness."

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