The Sentech Promise

ADSL South Africa (Broadband South Africa), 15 October 2006

Sentech has promised that South Africa will not be humiliated by failing broadcasting and telecommunications systems when the Soccer World Cup kicks off in 2010.

Sentech’s promise might come as a surprise to many since its warning to Parliament in March that South Africa “would not be ready to broadcast the event to an estimated 3,6-billion viewers unless it was granted R1bn to upgrade its infrastructure” (MyADSL). The reason for Sentech’s optimism might be short lived taking into consideration that “Sentech has been allocated only R205m for the next three years to convert its equipment from analogue to digital” (MyADSL).

According to Sentech’s chief operating officer, Frans Lindeque, more or less “R2Bn was likely to be invested in technologies to modernise and extend SA’s networking infrastructure” (MyADSL). The SABC, Telkom and Sentech “had called a true to work together to ensure their facilities became world class” (MyADSL).

It remains to be seen if “The Sentech Promise” will stand the test of time since more commitment and investment is needed than a truce between the SABC, Telkom and Sentech.