SADC Ministers responsible for Communications, ICTs and Postal Services met in Johannesburg to discuss postal services, mobile roaming, broadband and digital migration.

As the Chair of the Global Postal Strategy Committee of the Universal Postal Union, the South African Minister of Communications, Yunus Carrim, hosted the SADC Postal Strategy Conference, which focused on the role of the post office in the digital age.  This was followed by an Extraordinary Meeting of SADC Ministers, which focused on other ICT issues.

The meetings were also attended by the regulators, and representatives of the postal sector and regional and international organisations,

“Postal services, broadband, mobile roaming charges and digital migration are all linked and are crucial aspects of the ICT sector’s contribution to economic growth and development in our countries. Given the considerable interdependence of our countries in the Southern African region, we agreed to cooperate more effectively in strengthening the ICT sector in the region.

“We all agreed that the post offices in our countries need to adapt and take advantage of the new age of technology.  We also recognized that they have a huge footprint and have a crucial role to play in meeting the needs of the poor, especially in rural areas.”

“We decided that where possible, taking into account the regulations on fair competition in our respective countries, governments and state-owned companies should make more use of the post offices, including through the delivery of  government services.”

The SADC Secretariat Director for Infrastructure and Services, Mr Remmy Makhumbe, stressed the importance of implementing the SADC Regional Postal Strategy for 2014-16, which focused on improvements in corporate governance; review of regulations; corporate restructuring and operational reorientation; re-skilling; seamless financial services across the region; strengthening the capacity of regulators; within budgetary, resource and other constraints, rolling out internet; and the use of technology in an integrated way across the SADC region.

The Extraordinary Meeting of the SADC Ministers agreed to accelerate progress towards universal broadband access.  It was also agreed to harmonise policy and regulations for effective use of spectrum, as well as continue harmonizing frequency allocation plans to maximize economies of scale and meet increased demand for broadband services. 

Further, it was agreed to undertake a wide-ranging review of policies across education, science, technology and innovation, to enhance efforts to build the knowledge economy. 

In response to a GMSA Ministerial summit that took place in Gaborone, Botswana on 6 September 2013, the meeting also directed the SADC Secretariat to create institutional arrangements to extend universal broadband access and to develop a roadmap for digital inclusion, inclusive of all parties, for the implementation of an e-government plan and other e-applications. 

The meeting received a progress report on ‘Home and Away’ roaming to reduce the costs of communicating across the region – “The Roam Like a Local” project. It was agreed that within the policies and laws of the respective countries regulators and, where appropriate, Ministers will seek to get greater cooperation of the mobile operators for this programme.

The meeting noted developments on the SADC Regional Internet Exchange Points programme, which will contribute to lowering the cost to communicate in the region. 

The meeting noted the uneven progress on migration from analogue to digital television across the region and “urged all countries who have not yet started their digital migration progress to do as soon as possible. This will allow cross-border frequency planning and cohesion.” It was agreed that SADC Heads of States should be made more aware of the urgency to complete the digital migration process by June 2015, not just to meet the International Telecommunications Union deadline, but release radio frequency spectrum to roll out affordable and universally accessible broadband.