Johannesburg, 17 Feb 2010
Government has spent R1.5 billion on telecommunications and broadcasting in anticipation of the 2010 Fifa World Cup later this year.
Documents handed out this morning to journalists before finance minister Pravin Gordhan's maiden budget speech showed the country has forked out a total of R33 billion on preparing for the games.
The bulk of this spending has been on transport, at R12.95 billion, followed by stadium construction at R11.7 billion. Telecommunications and broadcasting spend was the third highest amount.
Of the R1.5 billion the government has allocated for the games, R1.2 billion went to Telkom for access network infrastructure, while R300 million went to Sentech for satellite backup.
Government also allocated R80 million to the City of Johannesburg as a contribution for the upgrade of the international broadcasting centre at Nasrec.
At the end of September last year, Telkom had spent R276 million on ICT infrastructure at the four stadiums used for the Confederations Cup, and has undertaken to complete the infrastructure at the remaining six stadiums and the international broadcasting centre.
ICT infrastructure will be ready for testing in April this year.
Government expects to generate R4.9 billion in revenue this year from the event, based on 450 000 people visiting SA. This translates into additional economic growth of 0.4%.
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