Agriculture, Economic Development and Tourism
Question by:
Hon Noko Masipa
Answered by:
Hon Ivan Meyer
Question Number:
13
Question Body:
- (a) What is his Department’s current assessment of fixed and mobile internet bandwidth availability across the Karoo region, (b) which towns or municipalities have been identified as lacking the minimum broadband requirements for business development, (c) what is the minimum internet speed or bandwidth requirement generally considered necessary to support Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) operations and (d)(i) how many BPO operations currently exist in rural municipalities, and (e) how many people are currently employed in these rural BPO centres;
- whether his Department conducted or commissioned any studies assessing the Karoo’s potential for BPO job creation; if so, what were the key findings;
- (a) what are the primary barriers to high-speed broadband access in the Karoo and (b) what role does his Department foresee for satellite-based services such as Starlink in enabling digital economic activity in the region?
Answer Body:
Kindly find the attached for a response.
Date:
Friday, June 13, 2025
Supporting Docs:
