ATF 2023: ACT CEO Nomvuyiso Batyi on telecom collaboration

Nomvuyiso Batyi, CEO of South Africa's Association of Comms and Technology (ACT), spoke to Connecting Africa Associate Editor Matshepo Sehloho at Africa Tech Festival in Cape Town about the organization's work with South Africa's telecommunications industry.

Launched in August 2022, ACT focuses on ecosystem matters of importance to the broader ICT sector in an attempt to provide a unified voice for the sector in the South African economy.

South African telecoms operators Cell C, Vodacom, MTN, Telkom, Rain and Liquid Intelligent Technologies are part of the alliance, which was initially formed in 2021 but officially launched in 2022.

Batyi explained why ACT is asking the government to include telecom companies in a fuel tax rebate system to help with the cost of diesel to run generators at towers during South Africa's high levels of rolling blackouts - known locally as load shedding.

She also shared the organization's plans over the next year including publishing research reports on topics including financial contributions from over-the-top (OTT) services and the expected impact of SA's plan to switch off 2G and 3G by 2025.