Limpopo Business 2016-17 edition
The 2016/17 edition of Limpopo Business is the eighth issue of this highly successful publication that, since its launch in 2007, has established itself as the premier business and investment guide to the Limpopo province. Limpopo is unique in terms of its abundant natural and human resources, and is also one of the key drivers behind the South African economy. This edition of Limpopo Business is officially endorsed by the Office of the Premier of Limpopo.
The 2016/17 edition of Limpopo Business is the eighth issue of this highly successful publication that, since its launch in 2007, has established itself as the premier business and investment guide to the Limpopo province.
Limpopo is unique in terms of its abundant natural and human resources, and is also one of the key drivers behind the South African economy.
This edition of Limpopo Business is officially endorsed by the Office of the Premier of Limpopo.
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OVERVIEW<br />
ICT and telecommunications<br />
Connecting rural areas is a priority for <strong>Limpopo</strong> authorities.<br />
SECTOR INSIGHT<br />
Ten schools are piloting an<br />
Offline Content Solution.<br />
• The <strong>Limpopo</strong> ICT Youth<br />
Conference was held in<br />
2015.<br />
• An ICT Centre of<br />
Excellence is to be<br />
established in <strong>2016</strong>.<br />
Connectivity is difficult to achieve in remote rural areas, and<br />
large parts of <strong>Limpopo</strong> are rural. One way of achieving<br />
higher connectivity is to focus on schools and libraries.<br />
The Universal Service and Access Agency of South Africa<br />
(USAASA) has as its brief to provide ICT services to public and private<br />
schools, hospitals and training colleges. <strong>Limpopo</strong> is one of five provinces<br />
that USAASA concentrates on with respect to school connectivity:<br />
more than R25-million has been spent since 2010 on this project and<br />
more than 400 smart devices distributed.<br />
Private telecommunications companies also have community responsibilities<br />
in terms of the National Development Plan. They must<br />
help connect under-serviced areas to the telecommunications and<br />
Internet networks.<br />
A National Library of South Africa (NLSA) project, supported by<br />
Vodacom, will connect about 300 community libraries via VSAT and<br />
Vodacom ADSL services. The project covers South Africa’s three most<br />
rural provinces – the North West, <strong>Limpopo</strong> and Mpumalanga.<br />
When national libraries started using an open-source system known<br />
as Library Information Management System (LIMS), it was a good opportunity<br />
to upgrade the more remote libraries. Meso ICT Solutions was<br />
the company used by Vodacom and the NLSA to roll out the project,<br />
which will also give community members in those areas better access<br />
to the Internet (including teachers<br />
and students). Each library has 14<br />
work stations and Vodacom can<br />
carry both fixed-line and satellite<br />
connectivity.<br />
The state is a big factor in the<br />
ICT sector, both in terms of its<br />
regulatory role, the incentives offered<br />
to companies and in terms<br />
of its own purchasing power<br />
through national departments<br />
and agencies.<br />
The State Information<br />
Technology Agency (SITA) supports<br />
a wide range of national<br />
and provincial departments and<br />
municipalities across the province,<br />
and is working on establishing<br />
a comprehensive provincial<br />
network. SITA played a role in the<br />
NLSA/LIMS project.<br />
SITA has a client base of more<br />
than 5 000 offices and offers services<br />
in WAN support, support<br />
of the provincial mainframe, ICT<br />
training and website development,<br />
among others. A SITA initiative<br />
to help all of South Africa’s<br />
LIMPOPO BUSINESS <strong>2016</strong>/<strong>17</strong><br />
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