The South African Communications Forum (SACF) made substantive and holistic recommendations to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications (PCC) at its recent Soweto-based hearings on the Cost to Communicate.
SACF’s presentation (available as a download from the SACF website http://www.sacomforum.org.za/) focused on:
- What processes are needed to undertake the assessment of our costs to communicate that are acceptable to all concerned stakeholders?
- What processes are needed to manage the corrective actions to maximize effectiveness?
- Recommendation of some immediate actions
The presentation noted that the high cost to communicate in South Africa has serious negative impact on the country’s economic growth and foreign direct investment
Some of the Recommendations made by SACF to address this serious challenge include:
- Policy formulation paralysis must be addressed
- Lack of meaningful introduction of competition
- Concrete suggestions on how the USAF could be utilised
- Support for a sustainable electronic manufacturing industry
- Focus on developing new innovative ICT networks, applications and industries
- Cost of pay TV services also to be investigated; commercial advantage taken from delay of digital migration
- Time-bound consultative processes based on solid outcomes and a clear plan of action post the consultation
SACF received excellent feedback on its presentation from the Committee members and their staff.
One of the PCC staff members remarked: “SACF is a treasure of the industry. You always bring a different and holistic perspective’.
The chairperson of the PCC, Eric Kohlwane, noted that for the first time, operators acknowledged that there is a cost challenge to be addressed.
