India and South Africa to Further Expand Cooperation in Telecom

India and South Africa have agreed to further extend by five more years the MoU for cooperation in the field of Communications and Information Technology. The MoU in the field was signed between the two countries in the year 1998. The Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Communications and Information Technology, Pramod Mahajan who is currently leading a delegation to Egypt and South Africa met his South African counterpart Ms. Ivy Matsepe Cassaburi. 

Pramod Mahajan also discussed prospects of further expanding business partnerships between the Indian and South African entrepreneurs. The South African Minister for Communications and Information Technology, in particular, drew attention towards the paucity of manpower in their country and said that their country did not have the advanced institute of Information & Communications Technology (ICT) for training of personnel in their country. Another sector where their country felt ‘poor’ was the Broadcasting Sector and stated that they were looking forward for extended cooperation in the sectors. The South African Minister also mentioned that their country was eagerly looking forward for cooperation in the field of Space Technology in which India has made remarkable advances. Pramod Mahajan assured that India would look into all aspects of the proposals that were put forth by South Africa. 

South Africa is the telecommunications leader on the African continent and it is the fastest growing sector of the economy. The cellular industry in South Africa is one of the fastest developing in the world. Since it started in mid-1994, it has grown to approximately 5 million subscribers in 2000. Growth has been mainly boosted by the introduction of pre-paid cellular services.

Forecasts by the EMC World Cellular Database predict 14 million users in South Africa by 2003. 

Both the countries have already identified areas for cooperation which include:- Outsourcing opportunities, networking products, IT solutions, highly specialised software for communications, value added services for communication platforms, e-commerce and internet, training in telecommunications, participation in joint projects, the joint development of new telecom technologies, software for Shipping and Power industry, geographical information systems, software for financial services and retailing sectors, IT enabled learning and systems integration. TCIL and ITI have been actively associated in areas of network expansion, turnkey projects and in providing new telecom products and solutions.