The Western Cape is considering a metropolitan broadband area network for Cape Town and the possibility of a satellite that could be used for communications purposes.
These two recommendations were made as part of the province`s Micro Economic Development Strategy (MEDS) report, the first part of which has been handed to the Provincial Government of the Western Cape (PGWC).
This part of the MEDS report covered six industrial sectors, including ICT, and two themes - small and medium enterprise and human resources development.
A second report will be completed in May and it will cover a further 10 industrial sectors and will include business process outsourcing and the electronics industries. The main objective of the reports is to lay the foundations of an economic strategy that will become the blueprint for the province`s infrastructure development.
Once these reports have been finalised, the PGWC cabinet, headed by premier Ebrahim Rasool, will select which projects suit the province`s needs and these will then move on to feasibility study and ultimately funding phases.
In terms of promoting the ICT industry, the MEDS report recommends the encouragement of export-readiness workshops, provision of IT export-market intelligence trade missions and the arrangement of an industrial development zone centring on IT.
There are also recommendations to promote e-government and e-business, the study of science and mathematics at schools, the use of skills rebates by ICT companies, and to boost innovation through the use of the National Innovation Fund.
Essential broadband
The proposal for a Cape Town metropolitan broadband network is considered by industry players to be extremely important for helping it to deliver social services and curtail its estimated R100 million telecommunications bill.
Ravin Naidoo, chairman of consultancy Radian and one of the compilers of the report, says the city has 102 public libraries, 110 clinics and numerous other buildings as well as about 100 PGWC buildings that could all be linked by either using fibre optic cable or the cheaper alternative of wireless connectivity.
"Such a project could shave off about 50% of the city`s annual connectivity fee of between R15 million to R20 million and there is the added bonus that all the internal phone calls would essentially be free," he says.
Cape Town was recently awarded a private telephone network licence by the Independent Communications Authority of SA. This gives it the right to resell some of the proposed metropolitan area network capacity to other organisations that would not necessarily have the right to establish their own infrastructure.
"There are a number of international precedents where regional and local authorities have played a major role in promoting ICT industries and this can easily be done here," says MEDS overseer, UCT economist David Kaplan.
Pie in the sky?
The MEDS report says the satellite for communications and monitoring would have spin-offs for fishing, urban planning and other areas. One is being considered by the province`s Department of Agriculture and it could reach into other areas such as infrastructure planning, township development modelling, safety and security, and maritime monitoring.
Kaplan says such a satellite is not as far-fetched as it may seem, as one could be built and launched relatively cheaply.
Naidoo agrees, saying it would take between nine months and a year from approval to build and launch the satellite at a cost of about R15 million.
"Currently the various levels of government are paying huge amounts for their satellite imagery and a low orbit satellite such as those built by University of Stellenbosch-related company Sunspace could save a lot of costs in the long run," he says.
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