INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS

DA leader Helen Zille. Photo: Ayanda Ndamane

Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has unveiled an ambitious plan to get the province connected with a mass rollout of broadband internet.

The idea is to match the best net access in the world.

Zille made the announcement on Friday during her 2012 State of the Province address.

“It is clear that if we aim to create an internationally competitive knowledge economy, improve productivity and enjoy access to new markets, we need to invest far more in fast and affordable broadband infrastructure,” she said.

“We need to link over 4 000 government facilities in the province to one another and to business, civil society and citizens. By 2014 we aim to have connected 70 percent of government facilities and every school in the province to the broadband network and also ensure that there is at least one public ICT access facility in every ward.

“Within the next two years, as part of a pilot project, we aim to create the largest mesh network in the world that will have connected all households in Khayelitsha, Mitchells Plain and Saldanha Bay, including the Industrial Development Zone footprint.

“By 2020, we aim to have connected every citizen in the metropolitan area to affordable broadband infrastructure at network speeds in excess of 100 megabytes per second, and all citizens in towns and villages to a broadband network.”

The plan would “position the Western Cape as a broadband access leader in SA, and support the information technology centres in every school in the province”.

Explaining the importance of connectivity, Zille said: “The World Bank estimates that every 10 percent increase in high-speed internet connections in developing countries results in a 1.3 percent increase in economic growth. Broadband is also a platform for local information technology services industries, which create youth employment and promote social inclusion.

“The World Bank reports that the number of internet users in developing countries has increased tenfold between 2000 and 2007, with over four billion cellphone subscribers living in developing countries.

But since 2009 South Africa had lagged behind many African countries in increasing internet penetration. “For example, while Nigeria and Egypt had increased their internet users by 33 million and eight million respectively over the past two years, South Africa has only increased its users by 2.3 million.

To compound the problem in the Western Cape, only 20 provincial government buildings, about 50 City of Cape Town buildings and 50 municipal sites were connected at 100MB/s or more.”

The plan would involve partnerships with stakeholders including licensed telecom service providers, banks, the Industrial Development Corporation and the Developmen Bank of SA, businesses as well as local and national government.

“All of this constitutes a huge investment in growth-creating infrastructure, most of which will be used as a powerful magnet for further investment from other spheres of government and from the private sector,” Zille said.

Cape Town Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry head Michael Bagraim said net access “is even more important than access to capital”. Without efficient interconnectivity, “business comes to a grinding halt”. - Cape Argus

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