Programme Director

Captains of the ICT Industry

Distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen

Program Director; allow me to greet everyone here in the name of one of our Great Sons of the African Soil, the late u Tata u Oliver Reginald Tambo.  In honouring him, October is known as Oliver Tambo month because this when this African Hero was born.  A man whose name is written and said in the history of this Continent!

In the same month that we pride ourselves with, we observe the 2nd edition of the FTTH Council Africa conference, under theme; the future is in our hands…. .  Indeed Ladies and Gentlemen the future is in our hands! The daughters and sons of Africa who came before us played their role in ensuring that our generation, and generations to come reap the fruits of their hard work.  We salute them!!

The conference theme reminded me of an old story: 

A wise man once said that we all live in our past. Today comprises of the decisions we made yesterday, a week ago, a year ago, or even a decade ago. Today we reap the fruits of our past decisions, what we did, or did not do….

With that in the back of our minds, allow me to continue… I am sure that if we had to visit earth a hundred years from now we will encounter a world that we did not even know was possible. 

Already we shake our heads in disbelief at the rate at which new technological innovations are made. If we consider the world today in comparison to only two decades ago and the technological advances that have been made to date, and if we base future progress on the current trend, I am sure it is safe to say the technological progress will grow exponentially. 

Humanity never seizes to amaze; neither do Africans. Our entrepreneurial vision and the multiple firsts that this continent has delivered in the past, and is still delivering today, will only become greater with access to true bandwidth. The only thing that will hold back the next generation of Africans will be the boundaries we set on ourselves by limiting their access to true bandwidth, and in turn, their creativity. What if we could provide them with that unlimited platform for developing a future for Africa… Just imagine the possibilities!

It is with this mindset that we have to build fibre optic networks rapidly and tirelessly every day. The benefits of fibre optic networks are clear. This is not limited to fibre alone, but is intended to serve all other technologies that rely on this phenomenal innovation, including mobile backhaul, wireless communications, cloud applications, triple play and over the top services, we know that it can deliver efficiencies in local councils, provide security, e-health and e-education, to name but a few. Fibre is the future proof infrastructure that can open a new and unlimited world to the next generations.

That being said; we have to take hands and to work together for the future of our children. At the rate we are working this generation will see some of the benefits of the fibre that has been deployed to date, but it is the generations that will follow us that will ultimately take this legacy and build the future Africa, one without limitation.

It is encouraging to note that the FTTH Council, with its core focus being the fibre industry, seeks to support government with issues such as policy and regulation, best practice and minimum standards. Programme Director, the Department is currently in the process of revising the National Broadband Policy, one that speaks to this theme. The vision of the policy is to ensure universal access to reliable, affordable and secure broadband infrastructure and services and to stimulate uptake and usage. Colleagues, access means nothing without affordability. We would need to ensure that all Africans can afford access to the bandwidth we are so diligently deploying daily. In addition, through the ICT Policy review panel, we are finalising the ICT Policy Green Paper which will be gazetted by November 2013. The Department is currently embarking on an extensive public consultation process that includes multiple groups for their inputs; and as such do hope to get inputs from the Council.

In closing, let me remind you that each one of you is making history. Whether you work in the back-office of a local authority approving leave applications; whether you are a roads inspector, an investor, a project manager in operations, a network architect, office administration or in management, you are not simply working to see the deployment of a fibre optic network, you are constructing the future.

Because we cannot predict the needs of the Millennial’s, better known as Generation Y, and what they would do with this unlimited bandwidth, because we don’t dream their dreams, understand their visions, because we don’t know this ‘always on – always available’ world that they were born into… because we have a limited vision, but they don’t; we cannot try and build the future for them, we can merely provide the foundation on which they can build their own. Let’s remember that the decisions that we make today will either take them forward, or hold them back. Let’s work together to build a better South Africa for all. 

I thank you and trust that you will enjoy the next two days.