The 2010 FIFA World Cup has helped ease the effects of the global economic downturn in the South African transport, communications and media sectors, says information and communication technology 
(ICT) consultancy BMI-TechKnowledge (BMI-T) enterprise research business manager Lesley-Anne Dos Santos.

All these sectors need high-tech solutions, with communications and media companies 
having a higher percentage of knowledge workers than the transport sector, but all these companies still need basic hardware, software, information technology services and telecommunication infrastructure to run their companies internally. 
Dos Santos says that the economic downturn has had a greater effect on the ICT spend of some industries than on that of others.

The communication and media sectors’ ICT spend is driven by some large projects that are the result of convergence in these sectors, as well as the emergence of next-generation Internet protocol networks. Projects are also driven by the need for more bandwidth and platforms for integrated billing, content management and provision and more cus-
tomer-driven applications. BMI-T public-sector consulting business unit manager Tertia Smit states that, with the convergence, liberalisation and consolidation of the ICT sector, this market is becoming highly competitive and companies need to adapt to remain in the game.

Road and rail travel ICT spend has been 
noticeably affected owing to reduced volumes of passengers and products being moved. 
Dos Santos says that companies are scaling back spending and reprioritising and delaying implementation, while certain companies are focusing on replacing critical systems. 
Owing to the demands of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the air transport sector has had to spend money on upgrading infrastructure and, correspondingly, ICT systems and applications to improve security and efficiencies.

She points out that air transport has had mixed fortunes, with Airports Company South Africa and South African Airways (SAA) being under pressure with reduced passenger volumes. 
Despite this, private carriers, such as Comair, which operates British Airways and Kulula in South Africa, have reported that they are doing well. 
The subsidisation of SAA and Mango still makes it difficult for these airlines to compete fairly, but they are doing fairly well.

Further, high fuel prices have also negatively 
affected the transport and logistics sectors. Dos Santos says that the transport of goods has also been hampered by the poor perfor-
mance in the manufacturing and retail 
sectors. 
In addition, companies, like State-owned transport utility Transnet, have also been struggling to become profitable, but are still required to spend large amounts of money on infrastructure upgrades and maintenance.

She says that government’s resolve to 
remain committed to other infrastructure rollout projects in transport and communications is a further source of strength in those 
sectors.

BMI-T’s South African ICT Expanded Vertical Market Programme aims to provide 
in-depth understanding of and guidance in the use of ICT within South African vertical industries as well as guidance for ICT vendors and service providers. 
Vertical-sector analysis is essential during these tough economic times and, with pres-
sure on ICT budgets, this information will enable vendors and service providers to craft attractive solutions to best penetrate desired markets.

Dos Santos explains that the research for the programme was carried out throughout 2009 and it provides clients with a holistic view of each vertical sector within South Africa, as well as where the ICT opportunities lie 
in different industries within the country.

The programme covers the structure, size, growth, developments and major projects of selected vertical markets and also includes IT and telecommunication information that deals with ICT trends in adoption, business trends, major players and big deals as well as major projects in different vertical industries across South Africa.

BMI-TechKnowledge will be publishing the SA ICT Industry Market Sizing and Forecasting Workbook towards the end of the second quarter of 2010. This research analyses 
the ICT expenditure of the South African vertical markets. 
This expenditure is then broken down further into hardware, software, IT services 
and telecommunications services spend. Additionally, hardware, software, IT services and telecommunications spend will be forecast up to 2014.