The Universal Service and Access Agency of SA (USAASA) was told to “go and think about its future and if anyone would miss it if it did not exist”, by Ismail Vadi, Parliament's communications committee chairperson.
He issued this instruction when wrapping up yesterday's gruelling three-hour session with the government agency responsible for promoting the goal of universal service and access.
Vadi said the USAASA board should go and consider if the country needed it and if it would be better off saving the R30 million budget used to run it.
“I am not convinced there is a case for your existence. The time has come for us to really consider if there is a future for you. I am not saying that you are not doing some good work, but the problem is that the scale is so small that it makes no difference,” he said.
USAASA chairperson Cassandra Gabriel reacted strongly, saying such a request was unfair as the agency existed within the law (namely the Electronic Communications Act). She added that it depended on the Department of Communications (DOC) and communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda to set such policy.
“Yes, there are a lot of people who would miss us if we did not exist,” she replied.
Gabriel went on to detail some of the rural schools that had computer labs installed due to USAASA's programmes, as well as school connectivity and various IT training courses that cost the learners about R100 to enrol.
SA slipping
However, Vadi remained unconvinced. “We have heard from academics and others that SA's position as an ICT country is slipping, that other countries are becoming more effective and overtaking us in the global ICT arena. So I have to ask what real effect is a small agency such as USAASA really having?”
During the session, USAASA presented its annual report to the committee and detailed how it had been earmarked to administer the subsidies for set-top boxes (STBs). The units are needed by consumers to be able to watch digital TV signals on their analogue sets. This is part of the overall digital migration strategy that the country is supposed to be going through as it upgrades its TV broadcasting system.
USAASA has been granted R400 million by National Treasury to help subsidise this, but it is still unclear how this subsidy will be administered, or if the STBs can be used to expand broadband services in the country.
“We are still in negotiations with the DOC and the Digital Dzonga [the digital migration advisory committee] on this. We are looking to see if the subsidy should be applied at the manufacturing level, or at the distribution level, or as coupons to individuals,” Gabriel said.
She said applying the subsidy at the individual level with a coupon system would be the last resort.
Also under the spotlight was the Universal Service and Access Fund (USAF), into which telecommunications operators pay a levy of 0.02% of their annual turnover to increase universal access to the poorer segments of society. USAASA is supposed to use this fund in a number of ways, such as subsidising access costs, building and maintaining community access centres and other projects.
Negative publicity
According to USAASA's annual report, the total of unspent funds in the USAF amounted to R1.1 billion. However, the figure is not necessarily accurate, as communications regulator ICASA collects the revenue from the operators and hands it to National Treasury, which does not ring-fence the money specifically for the USAF.
USAASA acting CEO Winile Lamani told Parliament that the agency had asked telecoms operators to supply lists of schools that they provided connectivity to so that the cost could be subsidised.
“Unfortunately only one operator, iBurst, responded to this request,” he said.
The politicians went on to ask a number of questions concerning USAASA's structure, its lack of human resources capacity and if the sexual scandal that rocked it earlier this year - resulting in the firing of its CEO - had been resolved.
Gabriel responded that USAASA is in the process of hiring a new CEO and hopes its expanded budget would allow it to attract more competent people.
“However, the bad publicity we have received is making this difficult,” she acknowledged.
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