Statement by H.E. Mrs. Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, Minister of Communications
Geneva, 4 September 2007

Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union,
Directors of the three Bureaus of the ITU
Excellencies,
Members of the ITU Council,
Ladies and gentlemen.

It is an honour and privilege for me to be given the opportunity to address the Council. First I would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to the administration of Argentina on the passing of Antonio a long standing council member.

This Council meeting is happening after a successful ITU Plenipotentiary Conference in Turkey last year which paved the way for the work of the ITU in the next four years and the Regional Radio Conference which dealt with the issues of Radio Frequency Spectrum planning.

Furthermore the ITU has convened a World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) from 22 October to 16 November 2007 with the aim to revise the ITU Radio Regulations, an international treaty governing the use of the radio frequency spectrum.

It is against this background that South Africa took a decision in February this year to switch-on digital signal by 1st November 2008 and switch-off analogue signal by 1st November 2011. South Africa is indeed committed to ensure a smooth transition from analogue to digital within this tight timeframe. Use of the freed spectrum is already under discussion to maximise social development in areas such as education for example.
The World Summit on the Information Society provided all of us with opportunity for a focused attention on access to and use of ICTs particularly in developing countries. Lack of investment in reliable and affordable infrastructure has undermined development of necessary infrastructure and thus resulted in persistently high connectivity costs in developing countries relative to those in the developed world.

As developing countries grapple with challenges regarding the provision of basic services such as water, sanitation, electricity and housing to the poor, deliberate efforts must also be made to create a policy and regulatory environment to enable the provision of ICT connectivity. In many countries ICT connectivity is regarded as a low priority, leading to insufficient investments by governments in ICT infrastructure at both national and international levels. This continues to exacerbate the digital divide.

The distribution of the ICT infrastructure within developing countries is challenging, with penetration of services to rural areas continuing to be unaffordable or nonexistent. Part of the challenge that governments face is creating the balance between social development and profit for the investor. This is usually necessitated by the fact that investors usually do not want to invest in infrastructure. To achieve this delicate balance requires a partnerships between the private sector and public sector. Accordingly the public sector must invest in areas where the private sector would not want to invest, but ensure that the private sector would use such infrastructure to provide services at affordable prices.

In this regard my country has taken a conscious decision to invest in ICT infrastructure, particularly fixed and wireless to expand access to services for all citizens. A process to establish a public company to provide broadband backbone infrastructure is currently underway – the bill is in parliament. Linked to this is the investment by government in wireless broadband infrastructure which would augment where the fibre optic could not reach, particularly connecting schools, hospitals and government offices.

At a national level my government has adopted the institutional approach of cross coordination amongst the various national and provincial departments. Government department work together in the form of clusters and are given various tasks to take charge of. My department chairs the cluster that deals with ICT infrastructure and other departments lead on such issues local content development; e-education; e-health; e-government; ICT and SMMEs ;ICT Research and Development. This institutional approach allows government to have the same vision and carry out the implementation of its programmes in a coordinated fashion.

With regard to the functioning of private and public partnerships past experience has clearly indicated that the key to success depends on the creation of clear, specific guidelines for all parties. Such guidelines should address principles of co-ownership, reporting structure, profit sharing amongst others, whether it be infrastructure, ICT training etc. On government’s side; cross government consultation is vital so as to ensure that there are no conflicting policy or mandate interest that can later impact negatively on the partnership. It is important for government to recognize that when such partnerships are entered into they should always be guided by and run according to core business principles.

Eleven years ago when my government embarked on a telecommunications policy discussion, the buzzwords were privatization and liberalization. Most developing nations were being urged to either liberalise or privatize. South Africa opted for managed liberalization by first privatizing part of our Telkom. Once governments have made the decision to privatize, they should be wary of creating private monopolies as this can result in the old status quo remaining, especially with regard to affordability of services. Governments should also be vigilant in scrutinizing the shareholders agreement they accede to.

Access to international broadband networks is of critical importance to countries on the African continent. It is for this reason that there are concerted efforts by African governments to invest in submarine fibre optic cables, for example the NEPAD ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network. Insufficient investment in submarine cables linking Africa with the rest of the world is a major contributing factor to high costs of telephony in Africa. This Network would contribute towards the reduction of cost of telephony in the continent.

Of critical importance is to ensure that African companies own or co-own and operate submarine cables landing in their countries. Efforts should be made to ensure that there are guidelines to regulate the landing of submarine cables in Africa. In my country very soon we will be announcing guidelines regarding submarine cables landing in the South Africa.

In doing its work, the ITU must prioritize assisting developing countries to ensure that they are able to implement the RRC’06 decision to migrate from analogue to digital by 2015. Financial and human resources will be critical during both the planning and the implementation phases of this migration, thus the need for ITU expertise. Awareness raising across departments and among business and citizens is also vital so as to ensure that countries have antidumping guidelines in place before the migration takes place.

Security has become a critical issue for many countries across the world and has been a contentious issue in many international fora. I would like to urge the ITU to place this critical issue high on its agenda, prioritizing efforts to combat cybercrime by ensuring security of the networks and security of nations.

As we do all these things we must also ensure that there is the necessary capacity within regions especially Africa to build, operate, maintain and use the ICT infrastructure. In this regard ITU must continue with programmes to develop ICT skills within developing countries and within regions.

In conclusion, harnessing the benefits of accessing affordable ICT infrastructure is crucial to building an inclusive Information Society, thereby enabling people to participate meaningfully in a global knowledge-based economy.

Thank you