Minister of Communications Dina Pule is looking to tighten the reins on State-Owned Companies (SOC) that report to her, as she has instructed their chairpersons, chief executives and chief operating officers to meet with her at least once a month to update her on the progress made in the policy commitments she announced in her Budget Vote speech in May.
This is a departure from past practice wherein Pule held separate quarterly bilateral meetings with each of the SOCs. It is hoped that these more regular meetings will aid in finding speedy resolutions to challenges that 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 covered by the meeting in question.
Pule held two multilateral meetings with the leadership teams of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), the SABC, Sentech, the SA Post Office, Universal Service and Access Agency of SA and the eSkills Institute this past week.
Digital terrestrial television
While she stated that she is pleased with the progress made by Sentech, SABC, SA Post Office and the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa, Pule has instructed all the institutions in her portfolio to increase their public awareness campaign around digital terrestrial television (DTT) migration from this month. This campaign is being intensified as time ticks ever closer to the International Telecommunication Union’s deadline of 17 June 2015.
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 location of all Post Offices into the system and is now incorporating contact details of the other stakeholders involved in the rollout of DTT.
The system will enable the public to use their location data or address information to find current and final DTT/DTH coverage, DTT service providers such as post offices, installers and retail shops nearest to where they live. Citizens 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.
Still a matter of contention, the set-top box control system was also addressed as Pule announced she will soon release a revised draft BDM policy inviting stakeholders to make their input on the areas being revised.
Communications costs
Addressing the drawn out public outcry over the cost to communicate in South Africa, the Department of Communications says it is working closely with ICASA on lowering these costs. ICASA is currently busy with a broadband market study to, amongst others, determine areas of intervention to lower costs, and has committed to engage in a public consultation process on the programme over the next six months. At the time of writing, ICASA was scheduled to announce its plans imminently.
Minister Pule has pledged to '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 apparently underway.
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