Charley Lewis

Charley Lewis (PhD, MComm) has extensive experience across the field of ICT sector policy and regulation, ranging from telecommunications and broadcasting to broadband and the Internet. Covering a wide variety of key areas, his expertise ranges from universal access and service, through the digital divide, consumer protection, quality of service, statistics, and indicators, to spectrum management and the 4th industrial revolution.

Dr Lewis’ varied career includes teaching Mathematics and English at high school level; Information Systems Analyst; Head of IT at COSATU (Congress of SA Trade Unions); Senior Lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand; and Independent Analyst and Researcher. He has managed and taught professional development and academic courses on ICT policy and regulation to policy-makers, regulators, and industry practitioners.

Dr Lewis holds a BA Hons in English, a Higher Education Diploma, an M Comm in Management of Information Systems, and the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. He is a published author, with his book, Regulating Telecommunications in South Africa: Universal Access and Service (Palgrave Press, 2020) following on from the research for his award-winning PhD thesis.

Dr Lewis served on the Ministerial Task Team on Post-Covid-19 Economic Response Strategy, having previously been appointed to serve on South Africa’s national ICT Policy Review Panel (2012-2015). He was further recently appointed as an Adjunct Professor at the University of the Western Cape.

In August 2020 Dr Lewis was appointed by the Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies to serve a four-year term as Councillor at the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, where he recently took on the role of Acting Chairperson of Council.