While the Western Cape provincial government does not have a specific plan to roll-out broadband, it will support such municipal initiatives.
This is according to provincial minister for environment, planning and economic development Tasneem Essop.
"The rolling out of infrastructure, such as broadband, is considered a national government competency, but we are willing to help and, if necessary, lobby local authorities who come up with their own initiatives, " Essop said yesterday when visiting the Cape IT Initiative (CITI).
Essop praised the City of Cape Town plan to lay dark fibre around its municipal environs as a means to connect its outlaying buildings, such as libraries and clinics, and then to allow spare capacity to be used by the private sector to resell commercial services.
Construction of Cape Town's R400 million fibre optic network is due to begin soon, with the municipality still considering tenders received.
"The provincial government of the Western Cape (PGWC) is not officially involved in this project, but we are in favour of it," she said.
Essop also praised the Knysna municipality for its initiative to build its own wireless network to help deliver its local government services and offer cheap connectivity for people living in the area.
Viola Manuel, CITI executive director, briefed Essop at the Bandwidth Barn about activities taking place at the technology incubator. She formally proposed that a dedicated building be built to house the project.
The Bandwidth Barn is CITI's business accelerator project that houses 65 start-up IT companies. The PGWC supports CITI with an annual grant of R2 million, of which R1.5 million is earmarked for specific projects and the remainder to help with operational expenses.
Essop said consideration would be given to building a dedicated building and that it could possibly be part of a "design precinct" being proposed by the provincial government.
"IT is part of the creative sphere of business and we see a connection between it and the film industry and other related activities," she said.
Share