Cape Town - The Minister of Communications, Dina Pule, has shared her vision of a broadband future that will include millions of South Africans being connected to the internet via their television sets, learners using e-textbooks and nurses consulting with doctors, who are miles away, to save lives.
Speaking at the third annual Government Chief Information Officers Summit, held at the International Convention Centre, Pule painted a picture of a life made easier for all South Africans through the use of broadband.
In order to bring this vision to fruition, however, broadband – which lets users connect to the internet faster – had to be accessible to all, regardless of geographical location. Pule bemoaned the fact that broadband was concentrated mainly in urban areas, with Gauteng enjoying 75 percent coverage. The situation needed to change, as citizens in rural areas had much to gain with the infiltration of broadband.
“It’s our responsibility as government. We need to make sure that we roll out broadband in the rural areas. It will make life easier for all of us,” Pule said.
Pule further gave the example of how nurses, who were working at a clinic in Mitchells Plain (which is about 40 kilometres from the centre of Cape Town), where no heart surgeon was present, could look at a patient who had suffered a heart attack.
Instead of a surgeon rushing to the clinic, the medical personnel could consult with a doctor via broadband, and try and diagnose the patient.
“There will not be a need for the doctor to leave other patients and to rush to Mitchells Plain. That’s how broadband can help. It’s very important for the department to see that all South Africans are connected,” said Pule.
Linking government with the people
The scope for connecting South Africans through broadband was unlimited. Broadband will be the highway that will be used to take government information to South Africans, said Pule.
“We want to make sure that even a person who lives in a remote rural area has access to government information via television. About 11 millions homes in South Africa have a television. We think we can reach them via broadband,” Pule said.
State-owned enterprises such Telkom would play a leading role in taking broadband countrywide.
“Telkom has a very important role to fulfill in rolling out broadband in most rural areas. They’ve got public phones where you can’t imagine you’ll find a telephone. If they could do that, then Telkom must play a bigger role in rolling out broadband.
“We’ve asked them to come up with a strategy to do it, how to make sure that the entire country has access.”
Pule expects to see this strategy by the end of June.
But it’s not only Telkom that can play a role. The Post Office, which has a nationwide footprint, will also be drawn in.
In the North West province, the Post Office is delivering textbooks on behalf of education authorities. However, old technology was still being used in this process. Pule foresaw a time when pupils would have access to e-books via their mobile telephones.
“It’s not going to be possible tomorrow or next year. But that’s were we want to be as a country. For me, it will be a dream come true to see young people carrying cellular phones (through which they can access e-books) instead of textbooks to school.”
The reality of it all was that broadband was very expensive to provide. This was one of the reasons the private sector was not on board. Last June, estimates showed that government would have to put in R69 billion if it wanted to cover the entire country with broadband.
However, Pule was confident that the price tag would come down. As an example of her confidence in this belief, she explained how vetkoek, for instance, could be sold for R5 in Soweto. But the price would drop once more vetkoek sellers entered the market.
“Once we roll it out, broadband will become cheaper,” said Pule. – SAnew.gov.za
