On 8 June in Hatfield, Pretoria, Communications Minister General (Retired) Siphiwe Nyanda handed over 80 000 mobile units to the Ministries of Police and Health as part of the 3G (Third Generation) spectrum licence. Partners in the initiative are South Africa’s mobile operators MTN, Vodacom and Cell C. It is part of their Universal Services Obligations.
The mobile units are allocated to officials who will be part of the FIFA 2010 World Cup soccer operations. This forms part of the Department of Communications contribution towards the World Cup event in support of the safety and emergency services operations.
During his 2010 budget vote speech, Minister Nyanda announced that the Ministry of Communications had reached an agreement with operators to commence with the implementation of the outstanding Universal Service Obligations.
