Andile Ngcaba presents at the Department of Communications’ Poli

Chairman of Convergence Partners, Andile Ngcaba, made a keynote address at the Department of Communications ICT Policy Colloquium on the 19^th of April 2012 about building a digital life for all South Africans.

His presentation was a summary of a detailed paper prepared for the event.  In the paper, Andile presented that the ICT sector had experienced significant technological advancements over the last decade that had necessitated a comprehensive review of the laws and policy framework governing the sector. Secondly, he provided a historical overview of policymaking in the ICT sector over the last century and discussed the need for a new paradigm in modern policy development as the distinction between historically disparate technologies had become blurred in the era of convergence.

Thirdly, he spoke about how the policy-making process required extensive and deep consultation between four pillars, namely: (i) an inter-governmental forum; (ii) demand side players; (iii) supply-side players (iv) and the international community. Critical to this new policy paradigm was the enablement of ICT policy by all stakeholders, especially those outside traditional ICT sectors, e.g. financial services, health, education and local authorities. In conclusion, a review of the legislative changes to be made was presented and it argued that ICT policymaking needed to be overhauled to enable the advancement of digital technologies.

Open Andile’s presentation here