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When South Africans go to the polls next year, it's critical that the digital infrastructure supporting the elections meets the highest standards of efficiency, reliability and security.
Thirty years of experience suggests this test will be passed. So, as they mark their ballot papers, millions of voters will also be casting a vote of confidence in another organisation, one which has underpinned all South Africa's democratic elections and ensured every adult in the country has been able to exercise their most basic democratic right.
Often without knowing it, South Africans depend on that same organisation every time they use an ATM or put petrol in their vehicles, because it provides the platform and the infrastructure that make such transactions possible. That organisation is Telkom.
You may think Telkom is a mobile network operator, a broadband provider, or even the company that sustains the country's remaining landlines. If you have a fibre internet connection, you may know about our subsidiary Openserve. You may even have heard about our masts and towers business, Swiftnet, or our information and communication technologies (ICT) enterprise, BCX.
What many South Africans do not realise, however, is that Telkom is greater than the sum of its parts. Fundamentally, it is a communications infrastructure company, and its unparalleled pervasive network – combined with its range of expertise and the products and services it offers – makes it a key (but often hidden) part of their daily lives.
I've been thinking about Telkom's critical and strategic role in making South Africa work as representatives from the company prepare to attend the GovTech conference, which starts on today, 12 September 2023 in Durban.
The annual gathering hosted by the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) brings together the best ICT minds in the public and private sectors, and this year they will be asked to focus on an intriguing idea: a platform business within the public sector, supported by the private sector.
"Platform business" is a bit of 21st-century digital shorthand, but you'll understand what it means if you consider that the term applies to the likes of Facebook, Airbnb and Apple. They create and manage digital platforms that allow interactions and transactions between groups and individuals. In effect, they operate ecosystems for the benefit of producers and consumers, service providers and clients. And they have changed the way the world works.
The notion that a platform business can expand, improve and streamline the relationship between citizens and the government – in the same way that Amazon, for example, has transformed retail or Uber has revolutionised mobility – is clearly thought-provoking, and SITA managing director Bongani Mabaso points out that it's also novel.
"It needs debate, engagement, mainstreaming and socialising to usher in a new and revolutionary way: government service delivery with speed, impact and convenience," he says.
Mabaso is absolutely right, and during GovTech's three days of discussions, members of Telkom's leadership team will be in the thick of discussions, explaining how the company's deep experience of operating platforms in the national interest can be leveraged to bring government services closer to the people.
For us, the timing of the government's move to create a digital platform for delivering services couldn't be better. That's because Telkom has decided the time has come for a significant shift which will cement the company's role as a strategic South African asset.
The effect of this change will be to build on Telkom's strengths – its considerable expertise and communications assets – to focus on infrastructure (known as an infraco) that will be critical to South Africa's future prosperity in a digital world.
As the premier national infraco, Telkom will make the most of its assets to deliver value for shareholders and the nation. It will also be positioned as the ideal provider of the platform that enables the government to fast-track its ICT ambitions in pursuit of improved service delivery.
In considering a platform business, the key thing you need is reach, and that's something Telkom is uniquely positioned to offer. Among other things, we have 170,000km of fibre-optic network, 10 carrier-neutral data centres, more than 3,900 mobile towers and 7,000 active 4G sites and ramping up 5G coverage . Critically, we also provide the thing that ties all of this together: the nation's digital backbone.
And our reach is continuously expanding. Once fibre to the home is available, Telkom achieves a take-up rate of 46%, which is eight percentage points higher than the market average, and there is an immediate opportunity for dramatic growth in the 2 million homes within a kilometre of existing connections. Additionally, an upgrade to fibre nodes provides coverage to an estimated 3 million homes. That's the infrastructure that builds an effective platform business.
In designing a platform that gives it a deeper, closer relationship with a population that is expected to number 66 million by the end of the decade, the government has two initial choices: it could create it, at great expense and over many years; or it could opt for a public-private partnership with a company whose existing infrastructure and expertise will not only short-circuit the process but deliver a proven solution that is available to every South African, just like ATMs.
SITA's Mabaso has encouraged GovTech delegates to "stretch their thinking" as they consider the idea of a platform business at the heart of government. That's something we're keen to do at Telkom as we work hard to advance South Africa's digital future and seamlessly connect South Africans to a better life.
*Taukobong is Group CEO of Telkom