Communications minister Dina Pule has instructed chairpersons, CEOs and COOs of state-owned companies (SOCs) to report to her once a month with an update on progress made within each organisation.
This is a departure from past practice, where Pule held separate quarterly bilateral meetings with each SOC.
"I decided to streamline how I relate to the SOCs to ensure that, as a department, we improve the quality of service we deliver to our citizens. On the evidence from my revised engagements with the SOCs, I'm confident we shall meet all the goals we have set ourselves," says Pule in a statement.
According to the statement, these meetings will serve as a platform to find speedy resolutions to the challenges the SOCs face. This leadership team will be bolstered by specialists within the portfolio, who would be required to address specific issues that would be raised at the meeting.
Pule held two multilateral meetings with the leadership teams of the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA), the SABC, Sentech, the SA Post Office, the Universal Service and Access Agency of SA, and the eSkills Institute this past week.
Cutting costs
The discussions with ICASA centred on lowering the cost to communicate. The regulator has committed to engage in a public consultation process on the lowering of the cost to communicate programme over the next six months and is expected to announce more details this morning.
ICASA is currently busy with a broadband market study to, among other aims, determine areas of intervention to lower costs.
According to the DOC statement, Pule will soon announce additional details about the country's journey towards more transparent pricing on ICT services, and measures to be undertaken to achieve a competitive broadcasting industry, particularly focusing on premium content.
Consultations between the department and ICASA on these matters are under way.
Digital migration
Progress has also been made in the migration from analogue to digital terrestrial television (DTT), says Pule.
Sentech has developed a Web-based coverage information system as an additional tool in the DTT public awareness and education campaign. The company has already mapped the locations of all post offices into the system and is now incorporating contact details of other stakeholders involved in the rollout of DTT.
Post offices will handle the distribution of some five million subsidised set-top boxes. Government is paying 70% of the cost of the subsidised decoders for the poor.
The system will enable South Africans to use their location data or address information to find current and final DTT/direct-to-home coverage, DTT service providers such as post offices, installers and retail shops nearest to where they live.
South Africans will also be able to find additional technical information, such as the type of aerial required to receive the DTT signal in the area where they live.
The statement noted that Pule will soon release a revised draft Broadcasting Digital Migration policy dealing with the set-top-box control, inviting stakeholders to make their input on the areas being revised.
Pule is still under investigation by Parliament's Ethics Committee after her supposed romantic partner, Phosane Mngqibisa, allegedly benefited from last year's ICT Indaba, when Pule allegedly foisted his company onto organisers. At the same time, the Public Protector is conducting a separate investigation to establish whether the DOC's hosting of last year's inaugural ICT Indaba was all above board.
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