The Department of Communications was reconstituted into its present form and with its current mandate on the passing of the Telecommunications Act No 103 of 1996. Previously, the Department was known as the Department of Post, Telecommunications and Broadcasting. Since its new mandate, the Department has strived create a favourable environment that ensures that South Africa has the capacity to advances its socio-economic development goals, and support the renewal of Africa and contributes to the building of a better world. This mandate places the Department at the forefront of Government initiatives to bridge the digital divide and providing universal access to Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) for all South Africans. The commencement of the Electronic Communications ACT and the Icasa Amendment Act in 2006 ushered a new ear in the ICT sector in South Africa. The two pieces of legislation are part of the new converged regulatory framework for the ICt sector, aimed at lowering costs of access to ICT and increasing the efficiency of telecommunications services provisioning in the country.
