SITA ploughs R300m into infrastructure

By Nicola Mawson for SITA

Johannesburg, 31 Oct 2006

The State IT Agency (SITA) may spend R300 million to upgrade its infrastructure.

In its 2006 annual report, the organisation says the board has approved its telecommunications and convergence strategy, although it does not indicate when this was.

CEO Mavuso Msimang goes on to write: "Excitement around this strategy revolves around the prospect of saving government some R1.8 billion cumulatively over a five-year period, with the roll-out to only 66% of the target user community."

He says SITA will use voice over Internet Protocol to place government at the "cutting-edge of convergence, with many value-added services". However, realising this aim will require SITA to spend R300 million in upgrading its infrastructure and the provisioning of new devices for connectivity.

"A funding model is currently being devised and a proof-of-concept exercise has been successfully completed," said Msimang. In March, SITA indicated it was looking into a telecommunications network that would be established by government.

Wasted money

At the time, Msimang said the agency had a private telecommunications network licence, and was looking at a project to establish a private telecoms network for government. He was - despite the absence of a timeline - adamant this project would go ahead in the near future.

"Government can save a lot of money by running its own network," Msimang said. He pointed out that convergence within the local telecoms market would be a key driver for the project, with government seeking an Internet Protocol-based network for data, voice and video transfer.

Msimang added that large government buildings, for instance, have hundreds of separate telephone lines, which is a "waste of money".

SITA recently restructured into four operating divisions, which it hopes will eliminate "multiple developments of solutions for similar requirements". In addition, wrote Msimang, "the new structure will allow for the building of core competencies much quicker, because the consolidation will facilitate the sharing and cross-pollination of skills and ideas".

The agency has also placed focus on improving customer-service levels and trimming tender turnaround days beyond the current average of just below 80 days. In addition, unsuccessful bidders will be able to attend post-tender briefing sessions.