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Schools Connectivity Presentation

Schools Connectivity Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services 12 September 2014. Agenda. Introductions Neotel at a glance Neotel’s mandate on school connectivity

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Schools Connectivity Presentation

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  1. Schools Connectivity Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Telecommunications and Postal Services 12 September 2014

  2. Agenda • Introductions • Neotel at a glance • Neotel’s mandate on school connectivity • Neotel’s progress on school connectivity roll-out and other CSI education projects • Neotel’s future plans on school connectivity and availability of budget

  3. Neotel at a glance … South Africa’s 1st fully converged telecommunications network operator and services provider Global Tier 1 Internet Service Provider Access to 9 000 km metro, 16 500 km national fibre R 5.8 b infrastructure investment Comprehensive IP, transmission and managed services suite 2x Tier 3 data centres with 5 500 sqm combined space Growing at 15x the industry average Access to all 5 undersea cables 50 % growth in customers in 6 years 117 graduates of the Neotel learnership programme 2 billion voice minutes per annum ~ 1 000 employees Level 3 B-BBEE Delivering world class communication solutions through innovative technologies and focused customer service in South Africa

  4. Agenda • Introductions • Neotel at a glance • Neotel’s mandate on school connectivity • Neotel’s progress on school connectivity roll-out and other CSI education projects • Neotel’s future plans on school connectivity and availability of budget

  5. Neotel’s mandate on school connectivity • Neotel was granted a Public Switched Telecommunication Service “PSTS” Licence on 9 December 2005 • The licence contained obligations which were transferred to the converted I-ECNS licence in 2009. The following municipal areas are listed on an equitable basis: City of Tshwane, City of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Council, Mogale City Local Municipality, Ethekwini Metropolitan Council, Msunduzi Municipality, City of Cape Town, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Council, Buffalo City, Mangaung Local Municipality, Sol Plaatje Municipality, Polokwane Municipality, Mafikeng Municipality, and Mbombela Municipality.

  6. School connectivity roll-out Implementation challenges since inception • Neotel has continuously expressed its commitment and intent to meet the licence obligations in a manner that upholds the principles of fairness, equity and consistency in the licensing framework. • 2008-2010 - No Implementation Plan approved. • 2010 - Neotel submitted an alternative Implementation Plan for approval and ICASA did not approve, citing the process of revising regulations on Universal Service. • 2011-2013 – Revision of Universal Service Regulations for sector. • April 2013 - The Authority published a Schedule document for school connectivity proposing a new model on the implementation of the school connectivity obligations – reducing the number of schools to 750 including PWDs but with additional hardware requirements. • ICASA in collaboration with the provincial Departments of Basic Education finalized the list of public schools – however, the allocated schools fall out of our network coverage areas – and Neotel is currently in consultation with ICASA to address implementation challenges. • New regulations are silent on healthcare obligations.

  7. Agenda • Introductions • Neotel at a glance • Neotel’s mandate on school connectivity • Neotel’s progress on school connectivity roll-out and other CSI education projects • Neotel’s future plans on school connectivity and availability of budget

  8. Neotel’s progress on school connectivity roll out and other CSI education projects • NIIT and Neotel created the N2 Education Hub to address growing educational needs and skills shortage in school empowerment, IT, BPO and BFI. • Objectives include: • Improvement in learner’s academic performance, thereby boosting morale • Building of numeracy skills, analytical thinking and love for learning in children • Decrease in school absenteeism and drop-out rates • Teacher enablement in new teaching learning systems Status – Free State: • Deployed over 350 Maths Lab in the Free State in partnership with the Free State Department of Education. • Imparted training to 4000 educators on NIIT unique methodology of teaching math and by so doing touched 400,000 young learners in Maths. • In 2013 Annual National Assessment Examinations, the Free State Province stood first in Math Academic Performance out of all nine Provinces of South Africa.

  9. Neotel’s progress on school connectivity roll out and other CSI education projects Status – Various: • In 2012 – donated a Maths Lab to Nxuba SP school in Cradock, Eastern Cape. • In 2013 – donated a Maths Lab to Khayelihle Primary School in Vosloorus, Gauteng and the current lab serves more than 3 schools in the area. • In partnership with the Office of Deputy Minister for Women, Children and People with Disability, Neotel donated 10 laptop computers, a braille printer, educational software to the University of Limpopo, Disability Rights Unit. • In Partnership with Sasol Inzalo Foundation and the then Minister of Science and Technology, Derek Hanekom, Neotel handed over a mobile science outreach unit to the Eastern Cape Department of Education (ECDE) in the Cofimvaba District. • The mobile laboratory is part of the Technology for Rural Education and Development (Tech4Red) initiative, led by DST, which aims to establish whether the introduction of innovative technologies can improve the quality of teaching and learning in rural areas. • 2013- Neotel donated a Maths Lab to the community of Nqadu Village in Willowvale, Eastern Cape as part of its commitment to create quality education and providing easy learning and improving school Maths and Science – launch 2nd October 2014. • 2014 - Neotel together with Momentum will donate Maths Lab to the Northern Cape Province.

  10. Neotel’s progress on school connectivity roll out and other CSI education projects Status KZN: • In 2009, the KZN Department of Economic Development, the Confederation of India Industry, NIIT and the Moses Kotane Institute created a skills project called Global Talent Pool in ICT and Business Process Outsourcing in the province. • The vision of the project was to enhance the internal competitiveness of the Province through improving skills and service standards. • The project focused on setting up a training institute for software engineering and business process outsourcing to foster and accelerate ICT and ICT-enabled human capacity building in the Province. • Programmes were formulated to train 10 000 learners, 5 000 each in software engineering and business process outsourcing over the next five years and eight campuses have imparted knowledge to 4 473 learners so far. • In 2010, the successful first batch of interns from the project went to India for a one-year internship.

  11. Neotel’s progress on school connectivity roll out and other CSI education projects Internet Cafes / Multi-Purpose Centres • Since 2008, Neotel has partnered with CBO’s and entrepreneurs to establish 25 Internet Cafes/Multi-Purpose ICT Centres in under-serviced areas. • These centres have established themselves as a focal point for business, educational research and as a resource for individuals wanting to learn how to use computers and the Internet/email. • Three centres are operated by people living with disabilities and two operated by women. • The total number of jobs created thus far - 31 staff and over 1500 youth trained in basic computing. • 2013 - Neotel, in partnership the Department of Communications, Gauteng Department of Education and Huawei launched an IgniteIT ICT schools competition to increase the ICT awareness in schools. • 400 learners participated • Winner received a Computer Lab with state of the art equipment

  12. Neotel’s progress on school connectivity roll out and other CSI education projects Neotel believes in facilitating education for our employees, who in turn provide community outreach • Neotel Corporate School • Various Diploma and degree courses based on RPL system in partnership with the Maharishi Institute of Management. • Neotel Academy • 12-month Learnership with an additional 6 to 12 months internship programme. • The underlying philosophy is to empower learners through applied knowledge and making them ‘work ready’. Reseller Programme Enables the creation of small and medium owned enterprises by providing entrepreneurs the opportunity and support to sell Neotel products. The focus is on previously disadvantaged people. Ensures the distribution and development of Neotel’s products and services in untapped markets. Started the programme with four pilot sites to resell Neotel Prepaid products but have since migrated to include small to medium business solutions. • To date: • Over 117 learners • 80% of students employed in various technical fields in the Neotel business • First SETA accredited NQF Level 5 ICT Programme

  13. Neotel’s future plans on school connectivity and availability of budget • Neotel currently awaits the amended I-ECNS licence from ICASA, and subsequent to receipt of the amended licence, the Neotel Board of Directors will approve the required budget for 2015/2016 FY. • According to the last correspondence received from ICASA, Neotel has to connect 1500 schools over a period of 5 years. Our intention is to connect 300 qualifying educational institutions within our network coverage by the end of the 2015/2016 FY. • The estimated costs sourced from different suppliers to connect public schools ranges from R152 721 to R247 932 per school connection (utilising the Proposed ICT solution for school). • To expedite the connectivity roll-out to rural public schools, USAASA in collaboration with ICASA should outline the process for licensees to apply for money from the Universal Service and Access Fund “USA Fund”. Section 88 of the Electronic Communications Act 36 of 2005 states the following: The money in the Universal Service and Access Fund must be utilised exclusively for the payment of subsidies- to public schools and public further education and training institutions … for the procurement of broadcasting and electronic communications services and access to electronic communications networks; • Licensees should be able to access the USA Fund to roll-out infrastructure in the underserviced areas.

  14. Agenda • Introductions • Neotel at a glance • Neotel’s mandate on school connectivity • Neotel’s progress on school connectivity roll-out and other CSI education projects • Neotel’s future plans on school connectivity and availability of budget

  15. Neotel’s future plans on school connectivity and availability of budget Neotel entered into Joint ventures and long term contracts to supply Broadband connectivity to schools Project Isizwe: • Neotel is the premium support partner which enables Project Isizwe to provide Free Public Wi-Fi services. • We have connected 218 schools in the Garankuwa area, as part of the Tshwane Free Wi-Fi project. • In the Western Cape (Atlantis and Robertson) we have connected 8 schools on a high speed Wi-Fi network, which also gives community members access to the Internet. • SITA/WCG: • Neotel has been awarded the SITA/WCG Broadband network contract for the next 10 years. • Through this broadband network, Neotel will be connecting 1218 schools with high speed internet connectivity over a period of 3 years. • And deploy 384 Wi-Fi hotspots

  16. Conclusion • Neotel is committed to delivery of CSO’s / USO’s and is working with ICASA to implement them in a fair manner. • Focussed on education related CSI. • Focussed on creating educational benefit through strategic partnerships with government. • Focussed on enabling the realisation of the targets in the SA Connect Broadband Strategy. • Realistic constraints faced by ICT sector that could be addressed by access to the Universal Access and Service Fund.

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