Addressing the National Assembly during her department's budget vote Thursday, the minister said government also aimed to ensure continued access to emergency services during the period of disconnection.
This, she said, was part of government's universal service agenda.
She had instructed the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) to prescribe for immediate implementation, a list of emergency numbers to which the public would have continued access even when their landline phones were disconnected.
Added to this the five South African telecommunications operators MTN, Vodacom, Cell C, Telkom as well as Sentech have committed to getting a toll-free number, through which citizens could contact government using any phone, to raise service delivery issues.
"I am happy to announce that all the operators have committed to making this idea a reality by the end of June. In this way we can assist in creating a sense of all being of equal worth in accessing government," said Dr Matsepe-Casaburri.
The minister said the communications sector was a stark reminder of "the social contradictions of our democratic experience and the conditions under which our transition occurs. What the Italian political theorist Gramsci says 'the old is dying but the new cannot be born' seems to be very relevant to our situation."
The minister gave an example of this sentiment in action.
"I was made painfully aware of this divide when I was reminded by an interviewer that, in Sandton, a business man or housewife complains about not being able to get 64 kilobits per second of broadband speed at home when, down the road in Alexandra township, the majority of its residents don't even have a telephone to call for medical help or police assistance," the minister said.
One of the areas where her department has faced challenges has been with the Underserviced Area Licenses (USALs), whose structure of ownership and control will now be reviewed.
She had directed ICASA to merge these and issue one Provincial Under-Serviced Area Network Operator (PUSANO) license, where there is more than one license in a province.
Each PUSANO would be licensed for individual electronic communications networks and services.
She had further directed ICASA to ensure that the percentage of equity ownership and control to be held by persons from historically disadvantaged groups residing in the designated license area, be no less than 51 percent, higher percentages may be authorised by the minister.
Further ICASA should ensure that ownership and control by persons or companies interested in investing in the licensed entity, be restricted to 49 percent or less.
"All of the above-mentioned steps will assist us in addressing not only the need to reduce costs to communicate but also to focus on the needs of the most vulnerable groups in our society so we can achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) while at the same time improving service delivery across all government departments especially Education, Health, home affairs, Social Development, DPSA and e-Government," the minister said
Autor(en)/Author(s): Vivian Warby
Quelle/Source: AllAfrica, 25.05.2007
