Pretoria - The South African Government is working towards being among the top 25 countries in the world in terms of use and access to technology for socio-economic development, says the Minister of Telecommunications and Postal Services Siyabonga Cwele.
“As government, our aim is to ensure that we connect all citizens to the internet, including those who live on farms,” said the Minister.
He was speaking on Thursday during a visit to some of the sites that are going to be connected to the internet in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality in the North West.
The visit is part of implementing the first phase of the rollout of broadband or fast, reliable, secure and affordable internet. The rollout of phase one is scheduled to run over three years, starting this year.
President Jacob Zuma announced in the State of the Nation Address in February that government will prioritise the rollout of broadband in eight rural district municipalities.
The Dr Kenneth Kaunda District Municipality was identified as one of the rural district municipalities.
“We have learnt from the experiences of other countries that planning is the most crucial part in the successful implementation of massive projects such as the rollout of broadband infrastructure,” Minister Cwele said.
He said Telkom will work with other state-owned companies and where possible the private sector to ensure speedy connection to government facilities as well as reliable and always available internet.
Mayor of the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District, Councillor Boitumelo Moloi, said the municipality has budgeted R10 million to rollout Wi-Fi hotspots across the district.
“Our Wi-Fi hotspots will offer free 500 megs per month per device while access to educational sites will be unlimited,” Moloi said.
The municipality has also established a 24-hour call centre that links citizens to public services.
She said the call centre is staffed by technically skilled agents who are able to respond to service delivery needs of the citizens in the district in the shortest possible time. –SAnews.gov.za
