Pretoria – Government and Huawei have signed an agreement that will see 1 000 young South Africans trained in information and communications technology (ICT) in China over the next five years.
“The cooperation on capacity building is aimed at sharing information, expertise, experience and technical assistance among the different structures operating in the field of telecommunications,” Telecommunications and Postal Services Minister Siyabonga Cwele said.
Addressing the signing ceremony on Tuesday in Johannesburg, Minister Cwele said the youth will be trained in areas including telecommunication network security and optimisation as well as telecommunication administration.
Other areas of training comprise new technology for satellite navigation, the next generation network construction, cloud computing and big data network construction.
“This is expected to help enhance the department’s strategies to implement our programmes, including the rollout of broadband and lowering the cost to communicate,” he said.
Another programme that is expected to benefit from this cooperation is the department’s e-Strategy, which will provide the framework for how South Africa will include youth, women, people with disabilities and small and medium sized business in the ICT sector.
Minister Cwele said the ICT talent training component of the agreement is expected to help the department promote ICT literacy and awareness in the country.
He urged the youth, who will be participating in the training in China, to use the opportunity wisely.
“They must view it as a window into the future and must come back and develop ICT solutions that will answer some South African challenges,” Minister Cwele said.
Innovation centre to create ICT jobs
The Minister also launched an innovation centre that will create 40 permanent jobs in addition to the 1 200 people already employed by Huawei in South Africa.
“This innovation centre is a R72 million customer experience centre that boasts cutting edge technologies and infrastructure such as 4.5G and 5G wireless communication technologies.
“It also brings to life the fourth industrial revolution by showcasing the Internet of Things with solutions for smart homes and safe cities,” Minister Cwele said.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical devices, vehicles, buildings and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity that enable these objects to collect and exchange data.
Minister Cwele said the Huawei centre provides an opportunity for governments on the continent to consider standards that can be set for gadgets that can be used on future mobile networks and for entrepreneurs to spot opportunities to develop gadgets and applications that will run over these networks. – SAnews.gov.za
