SOUTH African Post Office (Sapo) CEO Mark
Barnes is in the process of finalising a domestic syndicated loan
facility to raise some of the R3.7bn for the company. The Post Office
urgently needs the funds to stabilise its operations and start
generating revenue, Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister
Siyabonga Cwele said on Tuesday.
He told MPs during his speech on his budget vote in the National Assembly that his department would assist the company to raise the funding from the markets. The approximately R3.7bn the company needed "urgently" would be in addition to the R650m capital injection made by government recently.
"Sapo remains a strategic entity for extending government, e-commerce and financial services to South Africans far and wide through its approximately 2,500 (2,448) outlets," Mr Cwele said.
He noted that the company was correcting the maladministration of the past 10 years by implementing the recommendations of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the public protector, as well as its own strategic turnaround plan.
Mr Cwele said the government was committed to ensuring that Sapo subsidiary Postbank became a developmental bank that would provide simple, easy-to-understand financial products and services for the unbanked and underserviced. Last year the bank opened more than 219,000 new savings accounts for the unbanked.
The response by the Reserve Bank to Sapo’s application for Postbank to be a fully-fledged banking company was awaited. This would open the way for the appointment of the Postbank board, its incorporation as a separate company and the registration of the bank controlling company.
Mr Cwele said the integrated ICT white paper — promised by the end of March — would be finalised in the next few months. The policy, he noted, would reduce barriers to entry "by moving away from monopolistic infrastructure based competition, to open access broadband networks. A new spectrum policy will support open access networks as it aims to open the use of high-demand broadband spectrum for use by all licensees while adequately compensating those who invest in infrastructure".
"The ultimate target is to benefit the consumer by increasing consumer choice, reduce costs, increase innovation, and encourage all consumers to fully experience the internet," he said.
The minister noted that mobile broadband 4G/ LTE coverage now stood at between 35% and 53%.
He told MPs during his speech on his budget vote in the National Assembly that his department would assist the company to raise the funding from the markets. The approximately R3.7bn the company needed "urgently" would be in addition to the R650m capital injection made by government recently.
"Sapo remains a strategic entity for extending government, e-commerce and financial services to South Africans far and wide through its approximately 2,500 (2,448) outlets," Mr Cwele said.
He noted that the company was correcting the maladministration of the past 10 years by implementing the recommendations of the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) and the public protector, as well as its own strategic turnaround plan.
Mr Cwele said the government was committed to ensuring that Sapo subsidiary Postbank became a developmental bank that would provide simple, easy-to-understand financial products and services for the unbanked and underserviced. Last year the bank opened more than 219,000 new savings accounts for the unbanked.
The response by the Reserve Bank to Sapo’s application for Postbank to be a fully-fledged banking company was awaited. This would open the way for the appointment of the Postbank board, its incorporation as a separate company and the registration of the bank controlling company.
Mr Cwele said the integrated ICT white paper — promised by the end of March — would be finalised in the next few months. The policy, he noted, would reduce barriers to entry "by moving away from monopolistic infrastructure based competition, to open access broadband networks. A new spectrum policy will support open access networks as it aims to open the use of high-demand broadband spectrum for use by all licensees while adequately compensating those who invest in infrastructure".
"The ultimate target is to benefit the consumer by increasing consumer choice, reduce costs, increase innovation, and encourage all consumers to fully experience the internet," he said.
The minister noted that mobile broadband 4G/ LTE coverage now stood at between 35% and 53%.
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