STAATSKOERANT, 24 JANUARIE 2014
No. 37261
As the countries and technologies develop and evolve, additional services are beginning to
form a new basis of expanded universal services. These include:
broadband services
telemedicine services
telemetry and remote sensing, control and monitoring
smart metering services and solutions - automated meter reading (AMR), remote
power load management and consumption trends analysis
The experience of implementing UAS, coupled with lessons
benchmarking, has highlighted the importance of the following factors:
from
international
Maintenance - Due to past experiences within the existing community telecentres
and cyberlabs, it has become even more important to consider sustainability through
support and maintenance of universal service access points beyond the build-out
phase. The true value and success of a communications access point is the longterm continued utilisation and successful operation and support of the facility by the
intended beneficiaries.
Training - Very often many potential users are, at least initially, intimidated by new
technologies. To continue supporting a growing user base of the services available in
telecentres and cyberlabs requires a fair amount of investment in attracting, retaining,
and re-skilling customers and users.
Local partnerships - Working with local partners enhances the level of trust and
support the community attaches to universal service and access projects
Diversity of services - The notion of providing a bundle of services at a single outlet
tends to be a good practice as it builds an opportunity for beneficiaries to achieve a
more diversified product range from a single facility.
Policy questions
What strategies for increasing the affordability of access to ICTs, particularly for lowincome users, should be adopted and how should the cost of providing services to
needy communities, government institutions particularly schools and clinics be
reduced?
How should government take responsibility for all types of UAS across the ICT subsector, telecommunications, broadcasting and postal services?
Should the universal access and service obligations continue in their current format?
Are they sufficient for addressing the universal access challenge in light of new
technological and market realities in South Africa?
In a converged environment, should there be differences in the treatment of operators in
the different sub-sectors (broadcasting, telecoms and postal) insofar as USAO and the
USAF are concerned?
Are the roles of USAASA, MDDA and ICASA still relevant given developments in the
sector?
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