The Association of Communications and Technology (Act) says it intends to revive South Africa’s standing as lead architect of new communications applied sciences on the continent to drive additional progress of the digital economy.
This comes after the affiliation, comprising of South Africa’s main community operators particularly MTN, Vodacom, Cell C, Telkom, Rain and Liquid Intelligent Technologies, was launched on Thursday, 11 August.
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“South Africa was one of the first countries to create prepaid for the world. We want to be up there in terms of the technology, [but] the reality is that… [while] we have the best networks, we’re no longer leading in the world. Part of that is about creating an enabling environment – of being at the cusp of these new technologies so that we can embrace them,” says Act’s chair and Vodacom CEO, Shameel Joosub.
Speaking to Moneyweb on the launch, Joosub emphasised that the sector wants to have a united stance to tackle industry-related challenges together with regulation and coverage points, and energy safety.
“People also want access to the best technology and at an affordable price. But affordability is also driven by factors such as spectrum availability, supply chains, inflation, and the ability to localise more to avoid the impact of exchange rates. That is why it has become important, now more than ever, to work together,” he provides.
Reducing {industry} fragmentation
In an announcement issued on Thursday, Act indicated that its formation will cut back the {industry}’s fragmentation and make sure that it gives a standard message on industry-related issues.
Commenting on the 17-year lengthy journey in direction of licensing spectrum within the nation, Act’s CEO Nomvuyiso Batyi mentioned: “The sector is changing quickly, and no one is waiting for South Africa.”
She added that the affiliation will facilitate seamless collaboration between community operators for infrastructure sharing and additional implement communications applied sciences in public faculties.
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“You will find at this point that a specific network only works in a specific area, but not in other areas due to rules in South Africa that preclude sharing certain network infrastructure and bands of the spectrum. Once that is eased, people will be able to share space and have all network operators functioning in one area,” she mentioned.
Batyi famous that the affiliation’s second precedence consists of guaranteeing that public faculties have accessibility to know-how and the web.
“For a person such as myself who comes from a township school and a less privileged background, the important thing is to make sure that schools are connected.”
“We went to a school on the periphery of the Free State and found tablets that had been locked in a room for years. We want to make sure that when we’re sending the equipment out to people that they know how to use it,” she provides.
Batyi mentioned the affiliation will additional help the federal government in guiding the expansion of the sector in the long term.
“Small and Medium Enterprises and OEMs [original equipment manufacturers] will be able to come on board next year because we are currently putting the building blocks in place to ensure that when they come on, they understand the kind of relationship we are looking to build with government and regulators,” additional identified.
Nondumiso Lehutso is a Moneyweb intern.
