This time two years ago, Telkom`s de facto monopoly officially came to an end, as this was the date that a second national operator (SNO) should have been licensed to begin operations.
This time one year ago, the Department of Communications was awaiting the final bids from consortiums bidding for the SNO licence in what was, by that point, the second round of bidding, after the Independent Communications Authority of SA declared that neither of the bidders from the first round were good enough.
Today, we sit with a half-hearted attempt at an SNO entity, with the shares divided close to equally among the members - 15% for each of Transtel and Esi-Tel, 19% for Nexus Connexion and 13% each for the two consortiums (CommuniTel and Two Consortium) who came through the SNO Working Committee`s pre-approval phase - while the remaining 25% has been warehoused.
Perhaps, if we are really lucky, by this time next year, we will have an SNO that has been licensed by the minister, but I for one won`t be holding my breath.
While there has been no decision yet on the SNO, this is a week of big decisions for President Thabo Mbeki, who will name a new cabinet, which will see one of two possibilities for the ongoing SNO saga - neither of them terribly promising.
We will either see a new minister appointed to the telecommunications portfolio - the name of Phumzile Mlambo-Nguka has been bandied about in some quarters - which will mean that the process will once again be delayed, since the new minister will have to get her head around the whole situation before she can take any action.
The other scenario, which may well be even worse, is the possibility of the incumbent minister, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, retaining her portfolio, possibly on a temporary basis until such time as the SNO issue is resolved.
The problem with this is that she has so far presided over the debacle - because it cannot really be called anything else - since its inception, not to mention that she was also the one in charge during the drawn-out third cellular licence process, so her track record is dismal, to say the least.
More to the point, the ANC was given a huge mandate in the recent election, partly on its promise to create jobs and alleviate poverty.
At present, the only one who is coming out of this mess smelling like roses is the monopoly.
Rodney Weidemann, Journalist, ITWeb
Which begs the question: why has the SNO, which, according to one of the consortiums that bid for the 51% share could create some 7 000 new jobs, not yet been licensed if this is one of the core policies the ANC is attempting to institute?
I have been told by an insider in the SNO process that the consortiums that initially bid for 51% and found themselves ultimately only awarded 13% each have already incurred costs that are running in the region of R50 million.
What will happen to the SNO should one or both of them decide that it really is no longer worth all the hassle and wasted money, and decide to exit stage left?
Or worse still, what if they decide to sue the Department of Communications for all the costs incurred by the endless delays? Won`t that further hold up the process, possibly irrevocably damaging the SNO`s chances of being competitive?
And when the warehoused 25% is finally handed to an investor, will we see transparency in the deal? After all, the infamous arms deal and resultant scandals have shown how easy it is for palms to be greased and people to be bought when there is a lack of transparency.
At present, the only one who is coming out of this mess smelling like roses is the monopoly.
Telkom has had so much time to improve its service, tie customers in to long-term contracts and release new products that the window of opportunity for the SNO to compete against it is growing smaller by the day.
Everybody else is suffering
The players in the SNO are suffering, because their costs continue to spiral upwards, while they still sit and wait to be licensed. Government is suffering, because its image constantly takes knocks when processes like these seem to go on forever.
And most of all, the man in the street is suffering, because jobs that could be created are not materialising and the costs that would inevitably be reduced were Telkom to have some form of competition are actually increasing.
There is an old saying that goes: "the business of business is business". Perhaps it is time Matsepe-Casaburri stopped procrastinating and issued the licence, so that the businessmen can get on with the job of creating employment, paying taxes and earning money.
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