Pallo Jordan has outlined ambitious plans to modernise South Africas telecommunications essential for joining the information highway, reports Jacquie Golding-Duffy
Telkom has set itself the phenomenal target of connecting five million new phones by the year 2000. They have the backing of the Telecommunications Ministry which regards widespread access to telecommunication services as central to economic and social development in post- apartheid South Africa.
Speaking at the National Telecommunications forum plenary session in Midrand this week, Posts, Telecommunications and Broadcasting Minister Pallo Jordan said access to telecommunication services was a basic right which all had to enjoy and, therefore, the focus was to ensure an affordable service.
Jordan went to great lengths to explain what an enormous task Telkom faced. He said the initial target of five million additional phones by the year 2000 would roughly ensure about 20 phones per 100 people compared to the present nine phones per 100; but this in itself was a mammoth task requiring that
555 000 lines be installed annually.
Few countries have undertaken so ambitious a programme. And the question arises, can we realistically expect the state to underwrite such an expansion programme given all the other demands placed on it for the immediate and medium term? asked Jordan.
Jordan presented the second draft of his White Paper on telecommunications policy to the forum. He said the paper would be ready for Cabinet presentation before the Easter recess which would once approved by parliament as the Telecommunications Act ensure Telkom some degree of exclusivity with competition phased in gradually. Telkom, in the next four years, could build and expand its infrastructure in the country with no local nor international competition.
The heated debate surrounding Telkoms ownership has been put on hold, pending the outcome of the states assets restructuring in the Ministry of Public Enterprises. Organised labour feels Telkom should remain wholly state-owned while the rest of the plenary was in favour of a strategic equity partnership where an international partner and/or private company bought some of Telkoms shares.
Government is contemplating placing only a minority stake of Telkom on the market, while state control would be retained.
Equity restructuring was not a euphemism for privatisation, said Jordan, adding it was beyond dispute that a massive injection of money, skills and international experience was needed if Telkom was to achieve its objective.
He said trade unions feared equity restructuring would lead to job losses but this notion was misplaced as the demand for telephones would mean production levels would increase, resulting in massive job creation.
Although there was great merit in the argument that Telkom should remain under public ownership and control, dogmatic statements grounded on new-right political agendas would not strengthen this argument, Jordan said.
Skills in manufacturing telecommunication equipment had to be continually developed and enhanced within the sector, if it was to become economically viable locally and in neighbouring countries, Jordan said.
These outside challenges facing the sector came at a time when it was undergoing massive transformation and there was a growing merger between tele-communications, broadcasting and information technology.
South Africa was in the ironic dilemma of engaging in nation-building when nations were facing the dilemma of globalisation, he said.
The shape of things to come is discernable in international satellite broadcasting and the globalisation of the electronic media, Jordan said.
Being a developing country, South Africa did not always have readily available sources of capital for investment to take account of these developments and it was, therefore, perhaps inevitable that pressures were being placed on government to throw open the door to international competition and private sector investment in the telecommunications sector.
Some issues included as points of debate in the second draft of the White Paper are:
l The shape and function of a proposed universal service agency whose key function would be to maintain a universal service at the heart of the telecommunications policy, and to build close-links with community-based organisations in public and private domains in a bid to develop capable public relations.
l Market structure in the telecommunications sector which concentrates on an accelerated development and which takes into account technological and international trends. The new market structure which encourages a four year period of exclusivity for Telkom would be seriously compromised if Telkom is unable to access sufficient funds. At present, there is a deadlock with labour with regards to equity restructuring.
l Establishing an independent telecommunications regulatory authority the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority to regulate the activities of Telkom in conjunction with the minister and to stimulate investment.
l To stimulate innovation in the telecommunications sector, with a view to building an information superhighway in South Africa, and to promote a competitive and effective manufacturing and supply industry.