Government has revised it’s connectivity targets for the year downwards.

• The government’s ambitious goal to provide 1.9 million households with broadband access this financial year has been slashed in half.
• Delays mean less than a 1 000 households have been connected.
• The department’s funding for broadband infrastructure only decreased by 11% for the year.
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The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) has slashed its goal to provide high-speed internet access to 1.9 million households this financial year.

It connected less than a thousand households in the first six months of the 2023/2024 year.

This means that the department only achieved 0.4% of its annual goal from April to September.

The revised goal to connect 882 000 households in 2023/2024 was announced in the adjusted estimates of national expenditure (AENE) document, released as part of the medium-term budget policy statements.

The AENE document explained that the reduction in the target was caused by “delays in agreement on the governance arrangements”.

“This led to delays in the disbursement of funds and a reduction in the budget,” the document read.

The connectivity goal forms part of SA Connect Phase 2, which is the DCDT’s plan to play an enabling role in providing broadband access to underserved communities.

Phase 1 of SA Connect, an initiative that was first announced in 2013, was largely intended to connect public facilities such as schools and clinics with broadband access. 

Speaking at the Digitech conference held in September, Deputy Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Philly Mapulane said Phase 2 of the project was intended to connect communities.

One of the goals of SA Connect Phase 2 was to provide 80% of the population broadband access within three years.

R3 billion was allocated to this phase to be used over the 2023/2024 and 2024/2025 financial years.

Also speaking at Digitech, Communications and Digital Technologies Minister Mondli Gungubele said the funding allocation should have been more.

“I have said to my team, R3 billion for these years is not enough if we take into account that it required pace of connectivity and scale and the global challenges.”

He said digital intervention was a powerful tool that could be used to reduce unemployment.

Funding allocations

Even though the department revised its household connectivity target downward by 54%, there hasn’t been a proportional decrease in the funding allocated for Broadband infrastructure for the year.

R1.35 billion was initially allocated to Broadband in the ICT Infrastructure Development and Support category of the department for 2023/24.

This was revised downwards by roughly R150 million, meaning there is now R1.2 billion allocated in this category for the period.

So, even though the department slashed its household broadband connectivity target in half for the year, there was only an 11.1% decrease in the amount of funding allocated to Broadband infrastructure in the period.

It is not clear what other broadband spending falls into the Broadband category listed on the line item.

The DCDT did not respond to questions by the time of publication.