Addressing SA's e-skills challenge will top the agenda of the Presidential International Advisory Council (PIAC) meeting this weekend. This topic will overtake the cost of communications, which topped the presidential agenda for two consecutive years.
The sixth annual PIAC, made up of international ICT leaders, will meet from 24 to 26 August.
The council, formed to advise president Thabo Mbeki, will meet with influential ICT leaders on how ICT can be used to boost SA's economic growth and reduce poverty. The meeting will take place at San Lameer, KwaZulu-Natal.
The change in focus follows an industry suggestion last year that an ICT skills council be formed to address the country's chronic ICT skills shortage. The suggestion was then passed to the Department of Communications for implementation. However, it was found that no credible research or figures existed to quantify the deficiency.
Deputy communications minister Roy Padayachie said in June his department was conducting research on the subject and would brief the San Lameer meeting on its findings this weekend. It would also propose steps to create the ICT skills council.
Harold Wesso, the department's deputy director-general for policy development, says the report takes the ICT skills debate beyond the present thumb-suck figures.
Not enough
While user-based organisations support the presidential focus on e-skills, industry players believe there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to reduce communication costs.
The Communication Users Association of SA (CUASA) says: "E-skills are very important in today's world and we support the PIAC putting focus on this matter. However, SA still needs to put considerable focus on reducing communication charges, before one will be able to benefit fully from any significant increases in e-skills," says CUASA spokesman Ray Webber.
Representing consumer broadband users, MyADSL founder Rudolph Muller argues that the high cost of true broadband connectivity in SA is still a significant barrier.
"Broadband is driving e-skills worldwide, and without a high broadband penetration rate - which is driven by affordability - SA will always try to play catch up to developed countries," he says.
Meanwhile, media reports indicate broadband infrastructure company Infraco plans to offer digital capacity at about a third of Telkom's current wholesale price. Business Times reports that public enterprise minister Alec Erwin said Infraco will charge no more than 35% of Telkom's current price.
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