Communications minister Dina Pule has instructed the chairpersons, chief executives, chief operating officers of state-owned companies (SOC) that report to her to meet with her at least once a month to update her on the progress made in the policy commitments she announced in her Budget Vote speech in May.
"This is a departure from past practice wherein Minister Pule held separate quarterly bilateral meetings with each of the SOCs," says the Department of Communications in a statement issued this afternoon.
"These meetings will also serve as a platform to find speedy resolutions to challenges that the SOCs face. This leadership team will be bolstered by specialists within the portfolio who would be required to address specific issues that would be addressed by the meeting."
Pule says, "I decided to streamline how I relate to the SOCs to ensure that, as a department, we improve the quality of service we deliver to our citizens. On the evidence from my revised engagements with the SOCs, I'm confident we shall meet all the goals we have set ourselves."
According to the statement, Pule held two multilateral meetings with the leadership teams of the Independent Communications Regulator of SA (ICASA), the SABC, Sentech, the SA Post Office, Universal Service and Access Agency of SA and the eSkills Institute this past week.
The discussions and outcomes centred on the cost of communications, digital terrestrial television, and the set-top box control system.
"The Department is working closely with ICASA on lowering the cost to communicate. ICASA is currently busy with a broadband market study to, amongst others, determine areas of intervention to lower costs.
"ICASA has committed to engage in a public consultation process on the lowering of the cost to communicate programme over the next six months. ICASA is scheduled to announce its plans later this week.
"Minister Pule will soon announce additional details about the country's journey towards more transparent pricing on ICT services, and measures to be undertaken to achieve competitive broadcasting industry, particularly focusing on premium content. Consultations between the Department and ICASA on these matters are underway," the statement says.
Digital television
Pule is pleased with the progress made by Sentech, SABC, SA Post Office, the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa and she has instructed all the institutions in her portfolio to increase their public awareness campaign from this month "as South Africa enters the final strait on her readiness to meet the International Telecommunication Union's deadline of 17 June 2015".
"The Minister will soon release a revised draft BDM [broadcasting digital migration] Policy dealing with the Set-Top-Box Control, inviting stakeholders to make their input on the areas being revised. All stakeholders will be given an opportunity to make input on the changes as per the Minister's pronouncement during the budget vote," the statement concludes.
Share