TechCentralTechCentral
    Facebook Twitter YouTube LinkedIn
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube
    TechCentral TechCentral
    NEWSLETTER
    • News

      Moves afoot to fix Eskom’s debt problem

      4 July 2022

      Audi South Africa to offer free connectivity upgrades

      4 July 2022

      Shock fuel price increase announced

      4 July 2022

      Wiocc’s data centre business, OADC, appoints CEO

      4 July 2022

      Google’s Equiano cable lands in Namibia

      3 July 2022
    • World

      Tether fails to calm jittery nerves

      4 July 2022

      EU to impose wide-ranging new rules on the crypto industry

      3 July 2022

      Crypto hedge fund Three Arrows files for bankruptcy

      3 July 2022

      Meta girds for ‘fierce’ headwinds

      1 July 2022

      Graphics card prices plummet as crypto demand dries up

      30 June 2022
    • In-depth

      The NFT party is over

      30 June 2022

      The great crypto crash: the fallout, and what happens next

      22 June 2022

      Goodbye, Internet Explorer – you really won’t be missed

      19 June 2022

      Oracle’s database dominance threatened by rise of cloud-first rivals

      13 June 2022

      Everything Apple announced at WWDC – in less than 500 words

      7 June 2022
    • Podcasts

      How your organisation can triage its information security risk

      22 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E06 – ‘Apple Silicon’

      15 June 2022

      The youth might just save us

      15 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E05 – ‘Nvidia: The Green Goblin’

      8 June 2022

      Everything PC S01E04 – ‘The story of Intel – part 2’

      1 June 2022
    • Opinion

      South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

      4 July 2022

      Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

      21 June 2022

      Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

      13 June 2022

      A proposed solution to crypto’s stablecoin problem

      19 May 2022

      From spectrum to roads, why fixing SA’s problems is an uphill battle

      19 April 2022
    • Company Hubs
      • 1-grid
      • Altron Document Solutions
      • Amplitude
      • Atvance Intellect
      • Axiz
      • BOATech
      • CallMiner
      • Digital Generation
      • E4
      • ESET
      • Euphoria Telecom
      • IBM
      • Kyocera Document Solutions
      • Microsoft
      • Nutanix
      • One Trust
      • Pinnacle
      • Skybox Security
      • SkyWire
      • Tarsus on Demand
      • Videri Digital
      • Zendesk
    • Sections
      • Banking
      • Broadcasting and Media
      • Cloud computing
      • Consumer electronics
      • Cryptocurrencies
      • Education and skills
      • Energy
      • Fintech
      • Information security
      • Internet and connectivity
      • Internet of Things
      • Investment
      • IT services
      • Motoring and transport
      • Public sector
      • Science
      • Social media
      • Talent and leadership
      • Telecoms
    • Advertise
    TechCentralTechCentral
    Home»News»Gauteng to spend R400m on tablets

    Gauteng to spend R400m on tablets

    News By Craig Wilson14 August 2013
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Stuart Lumka
    Stuart Lumka

    The provincial government in Gauteng has outlined details of a R396m “e-learning solution” designed to replace the controversy-ridden R2,2bn Gauteng Online. It will involve the roll-out of 88 000 Android-powered tablet computers made by China’s Huawei to 2 200 government schools.

    With the Gauteng Online project, a company called Cloudseed (formerly SMMT), was appointed to manage the project. Government leased hardware from Cloudseed and relied on the company for connectivity, but it failed to connect 500 of the 2 200 schools it was meant to serve.

    This time, government has decided to purchase hardware — in this case tablets — outright at a cost of R289m, and will spend a further R107,2m on providing network access. Despite its dissatisfaction with Cloudseed’s performance in the past, the province has again awarded the company a tender, although this time for providing connectivity only.

    The provincial government’s head of finance, Stuart Lumka, says Cloudseed won the contract in an open tender and was appointed because it came in at the lowest price.

    “It was a 90/10 tender, with a weighting of 90% on price, and 10% on technical proficiencies,” he says. “It was a price battle.”

    Service level agreements that form part of the contract include “very punitive clauses in the event of lack of delivery”, says Lumka.

    “If the network uptime drops below 95%, that will be a non-performance issue that will be punishable by clauses in the contract.”

    When Cloudseed’s 24-month contract to provide Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity concludes in January 2016, it will be replaced by the Gauteng Broadband Network, which is expected to be completed by then.

    Cloudseed will receive its money monthly in arrears, rather than once off.

    Finance MEC Mandla Nkomfe says Huawei will provide each of the 2 200 schools with 40 10-inch tablets which will remain the property of the Gauteng government.

    “The rebranded e-learning solution will be rolled out at the beginning of next year and all 2 200 schools are to be up and running in January 2014 when schools reopen,” Nkomfe says.

    Mandla Nkomfe
    Mandla Nkomfe

    “All payments will flow on receipt of satisfactory service delivery,” Nkomfe says, adding that Huawei will provide training for teachers and will be responsible for outsourcing maintenance and support functions to local entrepreneurs.

    Lumka says the province has “learnt its lesson” from the Gauteng Online debacle. “It was a large investment that left us with nothing to show for it,” he says. “This time we opted for the outright acquisition of the hardware, which will then belong to government.”

    He says that although government would ideally have liked to supply every pupil with a tablet, this was economically not feasible. “The average number of learners per class is around 40, so at least every learner, when they go to a lab, will have a device.”  — (c) 2013 NewsCentral Media

    Cloudseed Gauteng Online Huawei SMMT Stuart Lumka
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleMobile TV to expand trials
    Next Article BlackBerry’s selling, but who’s buying?

    Related Posts

    Moves afoot to fix Eskom’s debt problem

    4 July 2022

    Audi South Africa to offer free connectivity upgrades

    4 July 2022

    Shock fuel price increase announced

    4 July 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    The MSP value proposition has evolved – here’s why it matters

    4 July 2022

    Presenting the cloud finance in South Africa survey with AWCape and Sage

    4 July 2022

    The Equiano cable has landed

    4 July 2022
    Opinion

    South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

    4 July 2022

    Has South Africa’s advertising industry lost its way?

    21 June 2022

    Rob Lith: What Icasa’s spectrum auction means for SA companies

    13 June 2022

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the best South African technology news and analysis delivered to your e-mail inbox every morning.

    © 2009 - 2022 NewsCentral Media

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.