South Africa is woefully unprepared for the fourth industrial revolution, says Telkom boss Sipho Maseko. "The fourth industrial revolution is going to happen. The worst crime we can commit is to be unprepared." The government has been dithering for 10 years over the allocation of the desperately needed high-demand spectrum necessary for building even the 4G networks, never mind the next-generation 5G technology, essential for participation in the fourth industrial revolution. Maseko, 49, who in his five years at the helm of Telkom has transformed it into an increasingly competitive player in the telecommunications market, says the latest figures showing a 2.2% decline in the economy should galvanise the government, regulators, industry and civil society into action. He took out a full-page advertisement in the Sunday Times two weeks ago appealing to political leaders to wake up and smell the coffee. He addressed them last year "imploring them to think about the role that digital wil...
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