The State IT Agency (SITA) is partnering with MTN to bring mobility to government services. Through the agreement, MTN will provide a private network for each government department that requisitions it, linking employees to their offices 24/7.
The partnership agreement was signed at a media conference during the annual SITA GovTech 2007 conference, taking place this week in Cape Town.
Neither SITA nor MTN would provide the value of the contract. However, SITA's acting chief of strategy Moses Mtimunye says the partnership does not give MTN exclusivity to provide mobile services to government departments.
"SITA would not discriminate against any of the mobile operators and will provide its gateway infrastructure to support any department to access services securely."
The agency will offer the service to government departments as an add-on solution, he notes.
Driving ICT usage
MTN Business executive Buckley McGrath says the partnership aims to encourage government departments to increase their uptake and use of ICT to improve service delivery.
Deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka announced at the beginning of the conference that government would take steps to encourage ICT use among principals, executives, senior managers and other government employees.
MTN Network Solutions CEO Mike Brierley says the MobiGov network protects against serious ICT security threats, as employees do not have to go through the public Internet to access their e-mail or government network.
"The huge penetration of mobile devices within this country paves the way for the access of government services anywhere and at anytime," he says. SA has a reported mobile penetration of 89%.
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