Page 3 - EngineerIt April 2021

FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK

Another policy doomed to failure

outh Africa is not short of government policies. The State digital infrastructure company?
question should however be asked: are these policies It is difficult to take the minister seriously. A
Sin the interest of economic growth or are they there to government-owned SDIC to provide network
make a minister and his/her department look good in the eyes connectivity? Neither Infraco nor Sentech have
of the public? a successful data management background,
The Minister of Communication, Stella Abrahams, while the department, after more than ten years,
and her department seem to make a habit of developing has not been able to complete the TV digital
policies that are doomed to failure. The latest one was migration process, now the cause of court
published in Government Gazette number no 44389 on intervention by Telkom and MTN stopping the
1 April 2021. Maybe as it is dated 1 April, it should be broadband spectrum auctions.
taken with a pinch of salt (sorry I could not help myself!). The controversial WOAN, which is the
It is called: Draft National Policy on Data and Cloud. In the brainchild of government in an attempt to
minister’s defence, it is a draft policy so we can expect create a private sector-led wholesale operator
public hearings to be held soon. to compete with Vodacom and MTN and inject
greater competition into the services layer of
After paging though the new draft policy’s endless rhetoric, the market, with Internet service providers able
one comes to crux of the matter in the 10th section: to buy capacity from the new operator, is going
10.1.1 To support the investment in data and cloud nowhere fast. This even after browbeating the
infrastructure services, the implementation of mobile operators to commit to investing into
digital infrastructure strategies and policies shall be WOAN before they can bid for spectrum when
accelerated by government to ensure connectivity with the auction is eventually held.
deployment of access and core network infrastructure It is difficult to understand the Minister’s
(such as submarine cables, 5G, fibre). The aim is thinking. In her public speeches, she hammers
to facilitate the requisite capacity to support service on about connecting the unconnected. No one
delivery (sectors such as public service, transport, will disagree with her. It is important to bring
health care, education, agriculture and smart cities) and people in rural areas into the digital economy,
the digital economy. but not by setting up entities that have failed in
10.1.2 In support of 10.1.1, a model/strategy to consolidate the past, in the hope that they do a better job
the existing networks of state-owned enterprises this time.
such as SENTECH and Broadband Infraco, shall Government must learn an important lesson:
be developed to form a state digital infrastructure interfere less with the private sector and create
company (SDIC) to provide network connectivity. public/private sector partnerships driven by the
The SDIC will have access to the excess capacity private sector.
of government funded ICT infrastructure of Eskom’s South Africa does not need a government-
telecommunications, SANRAL, Transnet, PRASA driven cloud and data infrastructure provider, nor
and SANREN. The model/strategy shall also take another regulator reporting to the minister. Let
into consideration the implementation of peering for ICASA get on with its job of regulating without
all SITA networks to allow for interfacing with other being hamstrung by dictating policies and
relevant network services. continual ministerial interference.
10.1.3 A High-Performance Computing and Data Processing I welcome your opinion and feedback.
Centre (HPCDPC) shall be established, which will Drop me an email at hansv@nowmedia.co.za
include processing and data facilities and cloud
computing capacity, and will consolidate existing public Hans van de Groenendaal
funded data centres. It will comply with the provisions Editor, EngineerIT
of broad-based black economic empowerment. 012 991 4662 / 082 781 631

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