Yunus Carrim. CC image courtesy of GovernmentZA on Flickr.
Players in the South African ICT sector have been making “unheard of profits, at the expense of our citizens,” according to the country’s minister of communications Yunus Carrim.
HumanIPO reported last week the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) had announced an inquiry into the state of competition in South Africa’s ICT sector.
Carrim spoke at the IT Leaders Summit in Johannesburg today, welcoming the initiative.
“I understand that ICASA will ask stakeholders in the industry to provide feedback on its inquiry before holding public hearings. This will, I understand, lead to a draft position paper, which will also be subject to public comment before a final paper is produced. It will be good if you participate in this process,” he said.
He said the competition inquiry was in line with the country’s broadband policy.
Explaining the “first pillar” of the policy, he said: “Digital readiness… aims to ensure that we remove policies that constrain the competitiveness of the market.”
The National Broadband Policy, which was announced in December last year, aims to provide the nation with a universal download speed of over 100 megabytes per second and aims to bridge the divide between the connected and unconnected portions of the market.
South African ruling party the African National Congress (ANC) announced in its 2014 election manifesto that it is also seeking to provide the nation with free Wi-Fi.
