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Govt bemoans dawdling broadband speeds

Simnikiwe Mzekandaba
By Simnikiwe Mzekandaba, IT in government editor
Johannesburg, 16 Mar 2016
Government targets broadband speeds of 5Mbps for 50% of public sector facilities by the end of this year.
Government targets broadband speeds of 5Mbps for 50% of public sector facilities by the end of this year.

Some 2 737 South African government site connections have broadband speeds below 0.5Mbps.

This was revealed by Sipho Nengovhela, head of department: broadband strategy at the State IT Agency, who delivered his presentation at the seventh edition of the IT Leaders Africa Summit in Midrand yesterday.

This is a terrible story to tell, said Nengovhela. "Very few [government sites] are within the sort of numbers that we want them to be."

In terms of the International Telecommunication Union's Standardisation Sector, broadband is the transmission capacity that is faster than primary rate integrated services digital network at 1.5 or 2Mbps.

In 2006, the Independent Communications Authority of SA defined broadband as a service with a minimum download speed of 256Kbps.

According to Nengovhela, SA's government has set a target that 50% of public sector facilities must reach speeds of 5Mbps by the end of this year.

By 2020, the country's government offices must have 100% connectivity at speeds of 10Mbps, with schools and health facilities targeting much higher broadband speed requirements.

While the target for schools and health facilities is 100% connectivity with speeds of 1Gbps respectively by the year 2030, for government offices the target is full connectivity at 100Mbps for the same period, he noted.

Copper rules

Although there are number of issues with using copper to provide broadband access, Nengovhela noted the majority of the government sites are connected via copper.

Some 3 972 government sites/facilities connect via diginet, he said.

Nengovhela added copper technology will only allow connection speeds of 198Kbps and won't go beyond 2Mbps. "That puts government in a very limited position."

Despite the improved diligence in terms of copper cable theft on the part of the South African Police Service, the implementation of legislation aimed at curbing theft, and the introduction of sniffer dogs by customs, SA still experiences issues with copper theft.

The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry's barometer revealed copper cable theft levels in SA reached R12.10 million in October.

A connected SA

The country's ambitious broadband policy, SA Connect, which was announced in 2013, aims to deliver 100% broadband connectivity to all schools, health and government facilities at speeds of 10Mbps by 2020.

The project will deliver widespread broadband access to 90% of the country's population by 2020, and 100% by 2030.

The Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS), which is overseeing SA Connect, predicts 3 158 government institutions and 4 442 schools will have broadband connectivity over the medium-term.

Delivering the 2016 National Budget Speech, finance minister Pravin Gordhan stated, over the medium-term expenditure framework (2016/2019) period, R1.6 billion is allocated to the SA Connect broadband programme.

Despite various announcements about SA Connect and uncoordinated initiatives by provinces and metros, progress has been very limited. Although there has been some indication Telkom will be the lead agency that will drive in the deployment of broadband infrastructure for SA Connect, the DTPS has denied such claims.

Yesterday, the Democratic Alliance's Marian Shinn released a statement which noted National Treasury is in discussion with Telkom and the DTPS to formalise a 'partnership' to manage the rollout of SA Connect.

According to Shinn, she has written to the finance minister to seek clarity on government's plans for Telkom.

"Should this be a public/private partnership, it is cause for concern as government should not own and manage network services, but rather enable private sector players to compete in a cost-conscious shared infrastructure and spectrum traded environment," she stated.

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