TCS | Dominic Cull on fixing South Africa’s ICT policy bottlenecks

Loading player...
Returning to the TechCentral Show is ICT regulatory expert Dominic Cull, founder of Ellipsis and regulatory advisor to the Internet Service Providers’ Association. Cull recently attended communications minister Solly Malatsi’s policy colloquium in Pretoria – the first under a non-ANC communications minister.
Cull says there is a discernibly different tone from Malatsi compared to his predecessors: more openness, more willingness to engage stakeholders and a stronger focus on evidence-based policymaking. However, while the intent is encouraging, South Africa’s ICT policy environment remains inconsistent, slow and fragmented.
In the podcast, Cull discusses:
• Malatsi’s policy colloquium and what came out of it
• The state of ICT policy and regulation in South Africa
• The biggest policy bottlenecks holding back growth in the ICT sector
• Why government doesn’t fully grasp the economic impact of digital infrastructure
• The latest on the next spectrum auction
• The EU’s decision to hand much of the 6GHz band to mobile operators – and why South Africa shouldn’t blindly copy it
• What’s needed to fix the Rica legislation
• Why Starlink isn’t coming to South Africa anytime soon
Cull also shares the top priority areas he’d focus on in 2026 if he was minister of communications.
It’s a great discussion – don’t miss it!
21 Nov 2025 English South Africa Technology · Business

Other recent episodes

TCS | Sink or swim? Antony Makins on how AI is rewriting the rules of work

Artificial intelligence isn’t just changing how work gets done, it’s rewriting the rules of business. Organisations are scrambling to redefine processes and job descriptions, while employees are grappling with new tools and new ways of thinking that are transforming the way they approach their daily tasks. In this episode of…
5 Mar 40 min

Bolt ups the ante on platform safety

Safety is a core concern for e-hailing operators as it ensures that platforms engender trust among drivers, passengers and the general public. Bolt recently commissioned market research firm Ipsos to conduct research into the perceptions of rider safety in South Africa's e-hailing market. In this episode of TechCentral's TCS+, Simo…
4 Mar 13 min

Meet the CIO | Inside the JSE’s tech engine with CIO Tebalo Tsoaeli

Technology sits at the heart of modern capital markets, and nowhere is that more evident than at the JSE. In the latest episode of Meet the CIO, TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod sits down with Tebalo Tsoaeli, the bourse’s CIO, to unpack how technology underpins Africa’s largest stock exchange – and…
2 Feb 47 min

TCS+ | Cloud On Demand and Consnet: inside a real-world AWS partner success story

The cloud revolution has challenged businesses of all sizes by changing how IT teams go about implementing projects and managing infrastructure. IT service firms have been doubly challenged, having to sell a new computing paradigm to their clients while also practising what they preach and adopting cloud-first technologies in-house. Consnet…
30 Jan 25 min

Watts & Wheels S1E3: ‘BYD’s Corolla Cross challenger’

TechCentral’s electric car show Watts & Wheels is back for episode 3 of season 1, and while EVs remain the focus, the conversation takes a detour into something far less planet-friendly – and far more jaw-dropping. Duncan McLeod and co-host William Kelly kick off by drooling over a wild new…
30 Jan 36 min