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ICT industry set to grow to R250bn
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PDF The South African ICT industry is enjoying healthy growth with a recent report showing that it has increased by over R131 billion since 2007.
Communications minister Roy Padayachie stated in Parliament that this is set to grow even further and will be influenced by application intake and more data uptake.
“Since 2007, the ICT market has grown by over R131 billion to R179 billion in 2010. It is estimated that the sector will grow to R187 billion in 2011, with an estimated figure of R250 billion by 2020. This growth will be driven by the rapid uptake and usage of data and applications-driven mobile communications,” Padayachie said.
To achieve this growth target, the Department of Communications (DOC) says it will implement several interventions to address the cost of communications access to electronic communications infrastructure and reduce barriers to entry to promote competition in the sector.
Padayachie also noted it was discouraging that while the ICT industry was growing rapidly - Internet penetration for the country was disappointing.
“While mobile communications continues to experience unprecedented growth rates, Internet connectivity to the home remains low. Many South Africans still rely on broadband services at their place of work to access the Internet, hence broadband penetration stands at approximately 5% of the population,” he said
According to the minister, current research indicates that under conditions characterised by high cost of services, saturation in urban markets and limited access in rural areas - the rate of expansion of the Internet in SA will decline from above 15% to 10% per annum by 2015. This projection, he says envisages 11.3 million Internet users by 2015, which is approximately 22% of the population.
He said a collective effort in curbing the problem was imminent and includes all stakeholders.
“To address this deficit, we will work with key stakeholders which includes organised labour, civil society and academia, towards the development of a shared Vision 2020, for the country,” Padayachie notes.
He added that the department remains committed to create a partnership with the private sector as an essential step for the realization of a common vision for the South African industry where business targets growth and government realizes a developmental digital dividend for our people.
“To consolidate partnerships within the sector, we established an industry working group comprising representatives from the top 30 ICT companies operating in South Africa tasked with strengthening partnerships between Government and its social partners,” continued Padayachie.
