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

      Fixing SA’s power crisis is not complex: it simply takes the will to do better

      12 August 2022

      Consortium makes unsolicited bid for state’s 40% stake in Telkom

      12 August 2022

      Actually, solar users should pay more to access the grid – here’s why

      12 August 2022

      Telkom says MTN talks remain on track

      12 August 2022

      Analysis | Rain muddies the waters with approach to Telkom

      11 August 2022
    • World

      Tencent woes mount, even after $560-billion selloff

      12 August 2022

      Huawei just booked its first sales rise since US blacklisting

      12 August 2022

      Apple remains upbeat about iPhone sales even as Android world suffers

      12 August 2022

      Ether at two-month high as upgrade to blockchain passes major test

      12 August 2022

      Gaming industry’s fortunes fade as pandemic ends

      11 August 2022
    • In-depth

      African unicorn Flutterwave battles fires on multiple fronts

      11 August 2022

      The length of Earth’s days has been increasing – and no one knows why

      7 August 2022

      As Facebook fades, the Mad Men of advertising stage a comeback

      2 August 2022

      Crypto breaks the rules. That’s the point

      27 July 2022

      E-mail scams are getting chillingly personal

      17 July 2022
    • Podcasts

      Qush on infosec: why prevention is always better than cure

      11 August 2022

      e4’s Adri Führi on encouraging more women into tech careers

      10 August 2022

      How South Africa can woo more women into tech

      4 August 2022

      Book and check-in via WhatsApp? FlySafair is on it

      28 July 2022

      Interview: Why Dell’s next-gen PowerEdge servers change the game

      28 July 2022
    • Opinion

      No reason South Africa should have a shortage of electricity: Ramaphosa

      11 July 2022

      Ntshavheni’s bias against the private sector

      8 July 2022

      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
    • 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»SKA: ‘Africa is ready’

    SKA: ‘Africa is ready’

    News By Craig Wilson30 March 2012
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Naledi Pandor

    This comes after Australia lodged five complaints with the SKA Organisation — a body comprising the member countries of the project — and the Australian press reported the findings of a confidential report.

    Of Australia’s five complaints, three have been dismissed and the remaining two — which relate to the SA bid’s proposed arrangement of the project’s dishes and inconclusive tests concerning possible interference in the proposed location — look set to be resolved at an upcoming meeting on 3 and 4 April.

    Science & technology minister Naledi Pandor says there are a number of promising developments for SA’s bid, including support from the African Union and the European Union.

    She says finance minister Pravin Gordhan’s budget speech earlier this year — in which it was announced that SKA project contributors would be eligible for VAT relief — has given SA’s bid an “added edge”.

    Pandor says Australia’s complaints have, unexpectedly, also strengthened SA’s position because SA hasn’t lodged similar complaints and because Australia may have done so because the SKA Organisation’s reports — to which all members are privy, but which are confidential — may indicate SA as the preferred candidate.

    Furthermore, the Sydney Morning Herald, claiming it had access to one of the confidential reports, reported on 10 March that SA was likely to land the project.

    The project is being fiercely contested by the two countries, not only because of the billions of dollars in investment involved, but because of the intellectual capital it will attract.

    Pandor says the private sector has also expressed interest in the project and various public-private partnerships are on the cards. She says interest has come from multinationals such as Microsoft, Nokia, Oracle and SAP.

    SA has partnered with other countries in the region to host the SKA. They include Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Madagascar, Zambia, Mauritius and Angola, and Pandor says the SA project was told this week that Angola intended to apply to become a full member of the project, too.

    Pandor says the project is important because of the researchers it will attract. It will also “strengthen astronomy science achievements” and “create in Africa a global hub for astronomy”.

    Because the reports of the SKA Organisation are confidential, Pandor says neither she nor other members of the bid committee can talk about their contents. “We can only infer what the reports say going on Australia’s response.”

    Although there is no guarantee that a decision will be made at the meeting on 3 and 4 April, Pandor says the “SA team will make it clear that we want a decision”.

    Phil Mjwara, director-general of the department of science and technology, says the two issues the SKA Organisation is considering concern the proposed configuration of the dishes and the radio frequency interference measurements that were done at the remote stations. He says it’s not that the process was flawed, but that the data “wasn’t reliable”.

    Mjwara says he hopes that these issues will be resolved at the organisation’s meeting next month. “Your guess is as good as ours as to what will come out of that meeting [but] if our optimism is correct and two issues are resolved, then the board will probably discuss making the announcement. If not, it will discuss the road ahead. It’s still very difficult for us to pronounce.”

    SKA SA project director Bernie Fanaroff says the SKA is the world’s largest science project and is on the same scale as projects such as the particle accelerator at Cern and the Hubble space telescope.

    Bernie Fanaroff Naledi Pandor Phil Mjwara Pravin Gordhan SKA Square Kilometre Array
    Share. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp Telegram Email
    Previous ArticleBrutal cuts stun Absa staff
    Next Article MTN’s cash, weapons and ties in Iran

    Related Posts

    Fixing SA’s power crisis is not complex: it simply takes the will to do better

    12 August 2022

    Consortium makes unsolicited bid for state’s 40% stake in Telkom

    12 August 2022

    Actually, solar users should pay more to access the grid – here’s why

    12 August 2022
    Add A Comment

    Comments are closed.

    Promoted

    Get your brand in front of TechCentral’s amazing audience

    12 August 2022

    Pricing Beyond CMYK: printers answer the FAQs

    11 August 2022

    How secure is your cloud?

    10 August 2022
    Opinion

    No reason South Africa should have a shortage of electricity: Ramaphosa

    11 July 2022

    Ntshavheni’s bias against the private sector

    8 July 2022

    South Africa can no longer rely on Eskom alone

    4 July 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.