Briefing to Parliamentary Committee on Communications

2. Briefing to Parliamentary Committee on Communications The case for “Wireless” Municipal Networks: A City of Cape Town perspective Presented by: Nirvesh Sooful and Raven Naidoo Date: 9 June 2006

3. Agenda • Context: • City of Cape Town’s Smart City Strategy • ASGISA Strategy and National Agenda • From Strategy to Implementation • Digital Inclusion and Access to opportunities: Smart Cape • Other initiatives • The critical role of telecoms for Local Authorities and issues • City of Cape Town Vision • Conclusions and Discussion

4. Agenda • Context: • City of Cape Town’s Smart City Strategy • ASGISA Strategy and National Agenda • From Strategy to Implementation • Digital Inclusion and Access to opportunities: Smart Cape • Other initiatives • The critical role of telecoms for Local Authorities and issues • City of Cape Town Vision • Conclusions and Discussion

5. Cape Town ICT in Context • Recognised nationally and internationally as a leader in the space of E-Government (utilising ICT to enhance the city’s service delivery capability), as well as in the space of ICT for socio-economic development. • Numerous national and international awards have been bestowed upon the city. • City’s case studies have been used nationally, on the African continent and internationally as an example of best practice. • The City of Cape Town has also implemented certain ICT for development projects on behalf of the Western Cape Provincial Government. • There has also been several discussions with other local authorities in the Western Cape about the sharing of resources and skills from the City Of Cape Town (related to ICT). Also with DPSA and SITA

7. Address by Minister of Communications at Nedlac ICT Annual Forum Meeting, 25 January 2005 City of Cape Town has positioned itself to become one of our most technologically advanced cities, through successful IT sector intervention. By implementing its visionary transformation strategy, Cape Town is now a frontrunner in South Africa’s National IT Strategy. The benefits for all have been enormous. E-government services have been developed; the service to its citizens has been improved. All city employees have access to mainstream banking giving low-income employees a measure of economic empowerment. The cherry on top of the cake for this project, is that they have instituted the largest IT training programme in our history, boosting the IT skills of the city by training thousands of employees. IT businesses owned by the formerly dispossessed are also benefiting through this partnership. In order for Cape Town to establish itself as a municipal services leader there had to be a partnership between, business, labour and the community. I am sharing this success story with you because I want to see more of such initiatives.

8. Context • ICT for Development and ASGISA We re-affirm the vision that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have a strategic and important role to play, both as an enabler of growth in the economy and as a development trampoline to leverage our people out of poverty-Deputy Minister of Communications, MP Radhakrishna Roy Padayachie, Budget Vote Speech 2006/07

9. Agenda • Context: • City of Cape Town’s Smart City Strategy • ASGISA Strategy and National Agenda • From Strategy to Implementation • Digital Inclusion and Access to opportunities: Smart Cape • Other initiatives • The critical role of Telecoms for Local Authorities • City of Cape Town Vision • Conclusions and Discussion

10. Smart Cape Access Project • Objective: to ensure that all citizens of Cape Town have access to basic information and communication technologies (ICT). • Public access model that allows computing facilities to be provided cost effectively, using open source software and piggybacking on existing infrastructure and resources. • Word processing and other applications • Connected to the Internet • Web sites • E-mail • Enabler of other social and economic development initiatives by the City

28. Where are we now • 100 communities connected (500+ access points) • + 80 000 users. Rapid growth in new users (5000 per month) • Access to relevant local content key to a successful e-government programme • Mobile Smart Cape launched by Premier earlier this year

31. The President says…. “Entire communities need to be exposed to the benefits of ICT and positive attitudes created towards the cultivation of awareness and everyday access and use of this technology so as to bring all our people into the information age.”

32. From Strategy to Implementation -Other initiatives: • ERP implementation (Largest ICT transformation project in South Africa) • Very successful, collection rates increased from 84% to 96% i.e. R794 Million per annum • Entrepreneur Support and Business Development: Digital Business Centres • 3 launched, 2 planned for next year, voucher scheme, etc. • Youth Development and Job Creation: Kulisa Project • 130 youth, 95% employment • ICT for the masses • ICT skill a basic requirement for entry into the economy, 20 training centres • Open Source • OSS Competency Centre, real projects that touch real people • Intergovernmental/ Multi-sector action • DPSA, USA, SITA, PGWC, CITI, HP, Dell, Microsoft, Ghana (Accra), Spain (Basque Govt.), etc.

33. Agenda • Context: • City of Cape Town’s Smart City Strategy • ASGISA Strategy and National Agenda • From Strategy to Implementation • Digital Inclusion and Access to opportunities: Smart Cape • Other initiatives • Critical role of telecoms for Local Authorities & issues • City of Cape Town Vision • Conclusions and Discussion

34. Key Issues Cost effective telecommunications is essential to: • connect local government and enable government service delivery (Goal 1: Connected Local Government) • create connected local communities to uplift, empower and improve the lives of all residents (Goal 2: Connected Local Communities) • Extensive use of telecommunications by municipalities • Key Limitation: High Cost of Telecommunications prevents any of these being achieved

35. Goal 1: Connected Local Government • The use of ICT within local authorities has become far more important than ever before. • ICT is needed for communications between offices and staff, to enable local authorities to effectively collect revenues due to it, to be able to service citizens equitably in all areas, to improve customer relations, to inform communities about programmes and initiatives, etc.

36. Connecting local government will allow it to: • Create highly efficient and effective local government service delivery • Reduce transaction costs • Improve revenue collection • Allow anywhere, anytime service to citizens • Provide one-stop shops for citizens to deal with all aspects of local government services in an integrated manner • Make local government more customer friendly and citizen oriented • Create better accountability, responsiveness and transparency of all systems (reducing bureaucracy and providing performance metrics) • Reducing discretion and arbitrariness

37. Goal 2: Connected Local Communities • Access to information and the ability to exchange and process information is increasingly the key to personal upliftment and economic competitiveness. • LGs need to bridge the 'digital divide' between those who have access to connected computers and the skills to use them, and those who do not. • Provision of telecommunications networks in municipalities is a critical infrastructure impacting the economic growth, development and competitiveness of local communities in the global economy, (incl. expansion of the network to include provision of computers for use by citizens) ‘A community is a community through the connections among its people.’

38. Why is Telecoms so fundamental to Cape Town? • Internal Operations • Cash Offices, email, depots, stores, SAP, HR, Intranet, etc. • Security- CCTV • Citywide telephony system • City Call centre • Traffic lights • Emergency services (radio) • Electronic Road signage • Telemetry system for electricity management and SCADA for water • Telecommunications in the context of social and economic development of City.

39. High Cost of telecoms (City of Cape Town example) Current telecommunications bill is estimated at more than R100 million annually Not including SCADA, Traffic Control, Smart Cape, etc. NO CONNECTIVITY To Clinics, Youth Centres, etc.

41. Agenda • Context: • City of Cape Town’s Smart City Strategy • ASGISA Strategy and National Agenda • From Strategy to Implementation • Digital Inclusion and Access to opportunities: Smart Cape • Other initiatives • Critical role of telecoms for Local Authorities & issues • City of Cape Town Vision • Conclusions and Discussion

42. Thinking Outside the Box Moving telecommunications from a cost centre to an economic enabler

43. Smart City Telecommunications vision: by 2010 Cape Town will be… • A City whose residents, businesses and institutions are connected to each other and the world • A City where every house and business will be connected to the City Administration and to the Internet • A City in which all residents will have access to digital information and communication and the skills to use it • A City where high-speed connectivity to the Internet is a basic infrastructural service guaranteed by the City Council in a manner similar to water, electricity and solid waste collection. It was this thinking at drove us into applying for the PTN license which was granted on 30 December 2004.

46. PTN License The City will be able to install and manage its own telecommunication network infrastructure in the roads, servitudes and pavements over which it has control. Thereby it can reduce the costs of telecommunications for the City whilst also enabling the provision of low cost connectivity to service centres, libraries, clinics and other community facilities. The PTN License places the City in a good position to reduce its costs and promote socio-economic development in the City.

47. Current Telecoms Activity • Progressively migrate to a telecommunications network better suited to serve the City and at lower costs • The City has issued a tender for Telecommunication services to the City, including the option to build a network for the City. • Based on using wireless technologies, the City expects to save up to 40% of its current annual expenditure on Telecoms. • The City is assessing its Telecommunication needs for hosting the 2010 World Cup and will gear its telecommunications network towards accommodating the high demands of that event.

48. Agenda • Context: • City of Cape Town’s Smart City Strategy • ASGISA Strategy and National Agenda • From Strategy to Implementation • Digital Inclusion and Access to opportunities: Smart Cape • Other initiatives • Critical role of telecoms for Local Authorities & issues • City of Cape Town Vision • Conclusions and Discussion

49. Conclusions (1) • Connecting facilities and staff is a critical enabler of government service delivery. • The current high cost of telecommunications and a purely commercial regime for dealing with local government is therefore one of the key issues affecting service delivery at a local level. • Local government is also best suited to addressing the digital divide at a local community level and has a particular interest in the development of the information society and the knowledge economy as these are key to its socio-economic development mandate. • Local government needs to ensure that all local communities have access to telecommunications in the same way as they are provided with access to roads, potable water and electricity.

50. Conclusions (2) – we would like to see: • That all local governments be licensed on application to be able to provide telecoms infrastructure within their boundaries. This infrastructure can be in the form of fixed line infrastructure within the roads, pavements and servitudes run by the local authorities, or in form of wireless infrastructure. • That all local authorities may use this PTN infrastructure to provide services to themselves. • That all local authorities can lease access to this infrastructure in the form of available unused network capacity to other licensed operators. This could help stimulate the economy within disadvantaged areas. • That all local authorities can interconnect with licensed operators, on the basis of the interconnect rates determined by ICASA.