The establishment of the first telecommunications research and development facility in SA has been welcomed by the communications minister as an “important milestone”.
This morning, the Huawei Telecommunications Research and Development Institute Centre was officially opened in Sandton, north Johannesburg. Huawei is a China-based telecommunications networking company.
Minister Siphiwe Nyanda says the facility is an important step in “the advancement of the telecommunications industry in this country”.
Nyanda hopes the facility will be used to “share telecommunication knowledge with those within the telecoms sector in SA and our neighbouring countries”. He says the knowledge that should be shared includes intelligent network, 3G, business support system, IP contact centre, online charging system, service delivery platform and convergent billing systems.
“I, therefore, wish to congratulate Huawei for taking the initiative to set-up the first [telecoms] research and development centre in SA.”
“I hope that Huawei will provide value-added services to both telecoms operators and subscribers alike. It is also my hope that you will work with fixed-line and mobile operators to develop a new value chain in the telecommunications sector.”
Imperative
He adds that there is a need to for SA to evolve along with the rest of the world. Nyanda says millions of South Africans are able to communicate in many ways, including through mobile communication, landline and data communication.
“While we welcome this achievement by telecommunications operators and industry vendors alike, we cannot ignore the fact that communication methods continue to evolve rapidly worldwide and we need to move along with the rest of the global community,” Nyanda says.
“SA needs to move towards affordable telecommunications innovations to ensure that even those who are in a geographically-disadvantaged location or less privileged financially have access to telephone and Internet services,” he adds.
Share
