{"id":32929,"date":"2013-03-05T17:01:11","date_gmt":"2013-03-05T15:01:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=32929"},"modified":"2013-03-06T09:22:15","modified_gmt":"2013-03-06T07:22:15","slug":"gautengs-r15-9m-broadband-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/telecommunications\/32929\/gautengs-r15-9m-broadband-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Gauteng\u2019s R15.9m broadband budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Gauteng MEC for Finance, Mandla Nkomfe<\/a> has allocated a budget of R15.9 million up to 2016 for the province’s broadband initiative which aims to provide coverage for 95% of the province.<\/p>\n

A day after the Free State local government said it had allocated R40 million towards revamping its website alone, Nkomfe, outlined the province\u2019s plans to roll out\u00a0infrastructure programmes which included connecting the province through its broadband initiative, and in line with its vision for 2055 – 42 years from now.<\/p>\n

Delivering the Gauteng Budget Speech on Tuesday (5 March), Nkomfe said the province\u2019s equitable share allocation from the central government had increased by two percentage points, from 17% to about 19%.<\/p>\n

The increase is expected to total R9 billion over three years, taking Gauteng\u2019s budget from R76.9 billion in the 2013-14 financial year to R89.3 billion in 2015-16.<\/p>\n

The MEC also pointed out the fact that the recent census results highlighted that 12.3 million people or 23.7% of the South African population now resides in Gauteng; making \u00a0Gauteng the most populous province in the country.<\/p>\n

He said infrastructure development which has been identified as a catalyst for economic growth and job creation – is to receive R25 billion over the next three years.<\/p>\n

Speaking on the provinces broadband plans, the MEC said: \u201cThe Department receives R5 million in 2013\/14; R5.3 million in 2014\/15 and R5.6 million in 2015\/16 for the establishment and operations of the PMO (project management office) for the Broadband.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gauteng premier\u00a0Nomvula Mokonyane<\/a>\u00a0largely skimmed over her plans for broadband connectivity, in an otherwise detailed\u00a0State of Gauteng Province Address<\/a>\u00a0on Monday (February 25).<\/p>\n

\u201cBroadband networks and access to high-speed internet have become an important determinant of country competitiveness, and as access to broadband continues to increase globally, it has become important to have access to this new digital economy,\u201d the premier said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Gauteng Broadband Network Link is the Gauteng initiative to fulfil this broadband requirement,\u201d Mokonyane said.<\/p>\n

In 2012, Mokonyane said that that its G-Link Project was central to its efforts to build a knowledge economy as a driver of development and make Gauteng a Smart Province.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project aims at achieving 95% broadband coverage in the province to narrow the digital divide, roll out e-government services and grow the economy. The work currently underway seeks to roll out network infrastructure between 2012 and 2014,\u201d Mokonyane said.<\/p>\n

More on \u00a0South Africa’s broadband<\/h3>\n

Gauteng Govt reshuffle sees focus on ICT investments<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

95% broadband coverage for Gauteng: Premier<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Cape Town a \u2018blueprint\u2019 for telecoms in Africa?<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

ICT largely ignored in Zuma address<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Mokonyane mum on G-Link progress<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Gauteng MEC for Finance, Mandla Nkomfe has allocated a budget of R15.9 million up to 2016 for the provinces broadband initiative.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,21],"tags":[58,1597,26,5293,1595],"class_list":["post-32929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","category-telecommunications","tag-broadband-1","tag-g-link-project","tag-headline","tag-mandla-nkomfe","tag-nomvula-mokonyane"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32929"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32929\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32932,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32929\/revisions\/32932"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}