Vodacom Business is participating in a program to modernize municipal electricity and water supply services across South Africa. This activity is being implemented under the National Treasury's transversal contract RT29-2024 and is yielding tangible results in the deployment of intelligent infrastructure, improved service delivery, and local job creation.
Thanks to the RT29 projects, approximately 650 jobs are expected to be created by the 2026 financial year, surpassing the target of 500 jobs in the 2025 financial year. Furthermore, the number of installed smart water meters has increased to about 147,600 from 137,600 the previous year.
Vodacom Business collaborates with Ontec and Macrocomm to assist municipalities in adopting smart technologies. These technologies enable more accurate utility resource metering, provide a broader overview of electrical and water networks, and allow for the prompt identification of issues such as leaks, losses, unauthorized connections, and theft.
Vodacom Business provides the necessary connectivity, Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure, data platforms, and analytics that underpin these solutions. In turn, Ontec is responsible for supplying smart metering and utility management solutions, while Macrocomm supports project implementation, public engagement, and skills development.
Videsha Proutkhiraj, Director of Vodacom Business, emphasized that modernizing municipal infrastructure is not just about implementing new technologies, but about providing municipalities with more effective tools to manage vital services and respond to community needs. She noted that RT29 serves as a practical model for combining public and private sector capabilities to support this transition.
Positive changes are already visible in practice. In the Sol Plaatje municipality in the Northern Cape, over 15,000 smart electricity meters were installed in less than 80 days. Additionally, about 85 local residents received employment and training in installing smart meters and managing systems.
Vodacom's water resource management platform provides municipalities with a web interface featuring a digital dashboard that monitors the entire water distribution system in real time.
In the Naledi municipality in the North West province, over 6,000 smart meters have been deployed. This has contributed to improved revenue protection and operational efficiency. Real-time consumption monitoring helped identify power losses and detect unauthorized connections and theft, leading to a reduction in power losses from 26% to 5%, which meets the national standard.
This level of revenue protection is important not only for one municipality. Illegal connections to power grids, meter tampering, and outdated infrastructure can deplete revenues needed to maintain and expand essential services. Smart metering addresses this problem directly: through real-time theft detection, accurate billing, and complete consumption data, municipalities can improve revenue collection.
In the city of Tshwane, smart water management solutions give municipal teams better visibility into water networks, helping them detect leaks and water losses faster. The Vodacom platform provides a real-time data web dashboard, contributing to a measurable reduction in water losses through the quick identification of bursts, breaks, and illegal connections. This data-driven approach helps municipalities manage water resources better and respond more promptly to network issues.
These deployments build upon previous work on smart metering in Sol Plaatje, Naledi, Mogale, and Matzikame. The broader RT29 program continues to support municipalities such as Mbombela City, Tabazimbi Municipality, Kgatleng, and Buffalo Metropolitan Municipality.
For the local population, the impact of the program extends beyond the installation of new infrastructure. The program creates opportunities for local residents to gain practical experience and technical skills, while municipalities gain a better overview of their utility networks and a deeper understanding of service usage.
For municipalities, this type of digital innovation is becoming not just desirable, but necessary. Examples of such implementations demonstrate the potential unlocked when suitable partners and platforms are combined to modernize the provision of essential services.
As deployment continues, the experience gained in participating municipalities shows how connected infrastructure can support more responsive utility management while simultaneously creating opportunities for the local economy. Videsha Proutkhiraj concludes: 'Digital innovation is no longer an option for municipalities; it is a necessity. When we combine technology with local employment, we are not just fixing infrastructure; we are building local capacity and economic resilience.'