Dept explains free SIM card concept

Johannesburg, 01 Aug 2003

The aim behind the Department of Communications` plan to distribute four million SIM cards to underprivileged people over the next five years is to give everyone access to communications and emergency services facilities as well as a link to the country`s economic life-line.

Andile Ngcaba, director-general of the department, says the SIM cards will give economically disadvantaged people access to message, SMS and various e-transactional facilities, in line with the country`s universal service and access policy.

Speaking at the Enterprise Development Forum in Sandton, Ngcaba said the SIM cards will provide people with a telephone number where they can be reached, even if they do not have a telephone.

"The majority of us have an e-mail address, although we do not necessarily carry computers around with us all the time. In the same way, these people will be able to check their messages via a public phone, or perhaps borrow a phone from a friend in order to do this," he says.

"While the department is also working on a way to provide Internet access to the disadvantaged, at present the idea of the SIM cards is uppermost, in order to facilitate access to communications for the needy."

When asked whether there would be any government subsidising of call charges for the people who need to pick up messages, he said the department was not sure a model like that would necessarily work.

"What needs to be remembered here is that, in the same way the post office has tried to make sure that everyone has a postal address - even in the most remote areas - this plan is designed to give everyone a number where they can be contacted at."

Another issue that was raised regarded the possibility of collecting and distributing old cellular phones to the underprivileged market, following the upgrades that most people get with renewed contracts.

"We have been keeping an eye on how the refurbished market is going in other countries, and it seems to be taking off, so that is certainly a possibility, but we will have to wait and see," says Ngcaba.

The three cellular operators will distribute the four million SIM cards, and they will be doing this in return for the cellular industry gaining access to the 1800MHz spectrum.