At the same time the government will merge its telecoms regulator, the Independent Communications Authority (Icasa), with the country’s domain name authority and the film and publications council.
The government said the move was to ensure 80% of the population has access to the internet by 2024. The merged regulator also has a target of setting national 5G policy by December 2021.
Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams (pictured), the minister of communications and digital technologies, announced the moves as part of a rationalisation plan announced last year by the president of the republic in order to reduce state expenditure.
She signed a performance agreement with President Cyril Ramaphosa last month to ensure that the department and its entities deliver on key targets.
Ndabeni-Abrahams said: “There is an undertaking that the board chairpersons and CEOs of the respective entities will work closely to leverage on each other’s strengths, and collaborate on key projects to avoid duplications. I must add that their commitment was quite encouraging.”
