Govt needs to drive broadband penetration: MTN
Government shouldn’t spend billions in subsidising digital TV decoders, but should rather use the money to help realise its vision of providing broadband for all by 2020.
This is according to Karel Pienaar, CEO of MTN South Africa, who was addressing attendees of the 2012 MyBroadband conference.
Pienaar said that universal service obligation (USO) funds that all operators have been putting money into need to be used to drive broadband penetration in rural areas.
“It’s in excess of R2.5-billion and I think it’s time that we release that money not to provide decoders, but certainly to provide the 2020 vision of all of us… to get broadband to all,” Pienaar said.
Deputy director-general of the Department of Communications, Themba Phiri, told the Select Committee for Labour and Public Enterprises in August 2012 that they needed an additional R2.635-billion in subsidies for digital terrestrial television (DTT) set-top boxes (STBs).
Viewers that depend on the terrestrial broadcast provided by Sentech, the state-owned signal distributor, which is received through a normal roof antenna or “bunny ears”, will need an STB (and in some cases a new antenna) to continue watching TV.
STB subsidies for South Africa’s poorest citizens amounting to R940-million have been ring-fenced at the Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa (USAASA), Phiri said previously.
Karel Pienaar
Funding needed for fibre
Adding to Pienaar’s presentation, Vishen Maharaj, executive for special projects at state-owned Broadband Infraco said during a panel discussion that the major hurdle to expanding their fibre footprint is money.
“Funding is a major issue for rolling out fibre,” Maharaj said.
Infraco is approaching the USAASA to help fund roll-outs in some of the provinces where it doesn’t make economic sense to do so, Maharaj said.
USO funds for broadband infrastructure
Pienaar explained that the USO money could be used to build out and repair the pipes needed to lay transmission infrastructure to rural areas where there would otherwise be no business case to do so.
One way to do this, Pienaar said, is to have the USO go out to tender.
Any operator would be able to identify an opportunity on a certain basis and submit it. A tender is then issued and the winning bidder then goes and installs the infrastructure.
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