The previous administration had wanted to impose a deadline on the operators to complete switch-off of these legacy networks, but Malatsi believes it should be left to the companies to decide.
Speaking at a Mobile Monday event in Cape Town this week, Malatsi said government forcefully imposing a deadline for the shutdown of legacy networks risks excluding large sections of the population that rely on older devices for their connectivity needs.
"While there is a determination to get towards the sunsetting of 2G and 3G, I think the most important thing is that it has to be market led instead of a government imposition of a deadline," he said. "If you do that impose a deadline, you are going to leave millions and millions of South Africans - most of whom are poor behind."
In the previous administration, former minister Mondli Gungubele imposed a 31 December 2027 deadline for the sunsetting of 2G and 3G networks in South Africa. Gungubele, an ANC MP, is now deputy minister to Malatsi, a Democratic Alliance MP, under the government of national unity.
The Association for Comms Technology, an industry lobby group representing South Africa's major telecoms operators, previously cited the large number of devices responsible for machine-to-machine communications as another reason legacy networks should not be shut off abruptly.
