South Africa, 5 December 2013 – The Department of Communications, together with   the African Union (AU) is this year commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) and its successor, the African Union (AU). Similarly, on 07 December 2013, the Department, in conjunction with the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) is commemorating ATU Day.  ATU Day is celebrated annually on 07 December in commemoration of the founding of ATU.

The objective is to support the African agenda, by contributing to the building of a wide-ranging information society, and providing complete support for ICT structures in the continent.

Annually the ATU Administrative Council celebrates the African Telecommunications and ICT day. The 2013 theme resonates around “Bridging the digital divide in the urban and rural areas in Africa; Choice of technologies” This is to create awareness to ensure appropriate interventions are developed to close the gap.

ATU Secretary - General, Mr Abdoulkarim Soumaila believes the choice of technologies depends on the number of factors consisting of affordability and accessibility. “It is usual to find cities of a given country boasting of 4G services while rural and remote areas of the same country with only 1G service or none at all” he said. 

The segregation of digitization in the rural areas has isolated the population from receiving any information and communication as compared to the urban mass. Thus the ATU aligns itself with key stakeholders in order to ensure that new and developing technologies are implemented into the digital detached areas. 

South Africa’s Department of Communications works hand in hand with the ATU on specifically the development on national ICT policies. The Department supports the African agenda through contributing and building broad information society. In addition South Africa is regarded as one of the advancing countries in Africa in the ICT development sector. One of the key programmes DoC is heading are; Broadcasting Digital Migration and the roll out of the Digital Terrestrial Television networks. It is expected that most countries in the Southern and Sub Saharan Africa will collaborate with the Department in order to share and learn the best ICT practices.

The Department always supports the other continental programmes by being involved in the SADC engagements.  This week the Department is taking part in the ICT Week in Addis Ababa where it is spearheading the robust debates on Digital Migration and Frequency Spectrum amongst popular topics.  It is also boasting an exhibition stand at the AU headquarters together with its ICT industry stakeholders and the State Owned Companies showcasing various expertise and the vibrancy of the sector in South Africa and in the continent.

In October this year, the Department hosted a national and international broadband workshop invited all stakeholders from other countries and locally to reflect on its commitment to create an enabling environment for the rollout of broadband infrastructure and the creation of associated content, applications and services. The Department is already deploying some of the services in ensuring the betterment of the citizens through schools connectivity and other programmes.

As the country and the continent progresses it is important to report some of the successes and headways made that 80% telephone penetration, 14% access to smart phones, 15% internet access amongst other achievements.  The figures may be lower however the continent is rapidly making inroads to make sure that all African citizens have access to ICT tools and that these are affordable.

As the continent celebrates the 50th anniversary of African Union (AU) and the ATU Day with the theme “Pan Africanism and African Renaissance” the Department is committed to forge partnerships and supporting the theme through its involvement in the ongoing programmes within the continent.

Therefore ATU Secretary -General urges all members and stakeholders to work closely together as ATU organises activities and programmes in commemoration of African Telecommunications and ICT day; “to ensure that the digital divide is tackled in a practical and efficient manner through the choice of technologies available in the market today”. concludes Soumaila.

Ends.

Issued by the Department of Communications