Johannesburg beat rival bids from Cape Town and Durban to host the international broadcast centre for the 2010 Soccer World Cup.
Government spokesperson Themba Maseko said the tournament’s organising committee recommended Johannesburg, which is part of South Africa’s industrial and business heartland.
Maseko said the new broadcast centre would ”enhance South Africa’s migration into the new model of high-definition television and new broadcasting technology”.
South Africa’s communications infrastructure is well behind standards in the United States, Europe and Asia. Domestic and business customers often have to wait weeks for a standard telephone connection and months for broadband.
Sentech, the national broadcast signal distributor, has said it will upgrade its digital transmission to meet the demands of a global television audience. State-owned power company Eskom has pledged to improve the electricity-supply network, which regularly plunges large areas of Johannesburg into darkness.
Johannesburg is also the base for the organising committee and the venue for the opening and final matches.
Cape Town and Durban both argued that their scenic coastal locations made them a more attractive base for international broadcasters. — Sapa-AP