Projects
Please click below for details on our projects.
Handover Project
This is an ongoing project (from the 2009/10 financial year), with objectives that include:
- To ensure that existing access centres (Telecentres and School Cyberlabs) are effectively operated and self sustainable over long term periods; and
- To allow the Agency to use its future budgets effectively to deploy more access centres in the country.
The project is designed to follow 5 phases, which are being implemented by a service provider that was appointed through a public bidding process. These include:
- Phase 1: Audit and Needs assessment of all existing access centres to determine their existing infrastructure and operational needs;
- Phase 2: Rehabilitation of all access centres, based on the findings of Phase 1;
- Phase 3: Training and skills development of access centre governance and operational structures;
- Phase 4: Signing of handover agreements (between the Agency and Governance Structures) and disbursement of necessary funds;
- Phase 5: Ongoing mentoring and monitoring and evaluation of operations.
Rapid Deployment Project
The Rapid Deployment Project is designed to allow the sector to publicly bid for subsidies to deploy public access technologies that ensure access to ICT services in under-serviced and uneconomical areas of the country. The Invitation to Apply was published through national newspapers and the Government Gazette and a minimum of 3 entities will be issued with subsidies.
The objectives of this project include:
- To rapidly deploy public access technologies in under-serviced areas;
- To work in collaboration with the ICT sector to ensure long term sustainability of public access technologies in under-serviced areas;
- To ensure the deployment of innovative technologies in under-serviced areas; and
- To stimulate entrepreneurship in under-serviced areas.
BDM/DTT/Set-top-Subsidy
The Set-Top Box Subsidy project seeks to:
- Ensure that the objectives of the “Broadcasting Digital Migration Policy of South Africa” are met;
- Ensure an efficient process of providing subsidies to poor TV-owning households; and
- Ensure that the 5 Million poor TV-owning households targeted for subsidisation do indeed purchase Set-Top Boxes and become part of a Digital South Africa.
The subsidy model that has been adopted by stakeholders in the BDM programme, and that is in line with the “Broadcasting Digital Migration Policy of South Africa” is the retailing model, where subsidies are provided directly to households through a process whereby:
- Households apply for subsidies through existing infrastructure, which includes Municipal Offices, Traditional Houses, Post Office and Retail Outlets that seek to participate;
- Information provided is verified against existing information sources (SABC TV License database, Social Development database, Municipal Indigent household lists, etc.); and
- Approved households receive coupons and use these to purchase an STB at a discount (one STB per poor TV-owning household).
b. As part of Phase 1, the only criteria to be used to determine a poor TV-owning household is a concessionary TV license, as issued by the SABC to TV-owning households that receive either a pension or social grant and to persons over the age of 70. There are over 810,000 concessionary TV license holders, according to the SABC.