Bidder wants cell report public

Johannesburg, 12 Jun 2000

Telenor/Telia, the consortium that includes Afrozone, has issued a statement demanding that the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA) make public a report examining an earlier report evaluating the financial plans of the various bidders.

SATRA commissioned a report from Grant Thornton Kessel Feinstein to evaluate a 1999 report by auditors BDO Spencer Steward which examined the financial plans submitted by bidders for the licence. Although considered confidential, the BDO report was widely leaked and eventually made public.

The BDO report became the centre of the controversy surrounding SATRA`s naming of Saudi-backed Cell C as its intended preferred bidder because it raised questions about the plan submitted by the consortium.

In May, SATRA commissioned Kessel Feinstein to evaluate the BDO findings and subsequently submit information and compile its own report before a final decision on the preferred bidder is made. That report is due this week, and Telenor/Telia wants it made public.

"Our consortium strongly urges both SATRA and the Minister of telecommunications to continue its policy of transparency and make the report available to any interested party," said the consortium`s chairman Themba Vilakazi reading from a prepared statement. "We have been advised that bidders are entitled to this information as a matter of law." He says losing bidders have a right to understand why they did not win.

SATRA public affairs manager Kotli Molise says the report is confidential, partly at the request of the bidders themselves. "The report covers confidential aspects of the applications, namely financial information and business plans, and remains confidential". SATRA has not yet received any request from Telenor/Telia, and Molise could not say whether the final decision will be delayed because of it.

"This is not a process SATRA can make without consultation," she says. "There is a question of processes that need to be followed."

Zwelakhe Mankazana, spokesperson for Cell C, had also not seen the request, but says Cell C would be against it in principle. "We will abide by the SATRA ruling," he says, "but reports such as the BDO and this one should be confidential." He says the BDO report was abused as a weapon by losing bidders and Cell C would be concerned that the same would happen with the Kessel Feinstein report. "We are particularly concerned how people have taken single sentences [from the BDO report] and twisted them."

Telenor/Telia`s Vilakazi says the consortium is willing to turn to the courts if the report is not provided. "If we felt that the process is lacking in integrity we may go to court," he said in response to a question.

SATRA faces a deadline in its decision, as nominations to the council of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) are due to be delivered to the President by 23 June. ICASA is to be the new telecommunications regulatory body, formed by merging SATRA with the Independent Broadcasting Authority. SATRA says it must make the final cellphone licence decision and cannot leave the matter for ICASA to handle.

"If the report is not made public we will see even greater delays in the award of the licence as all the various interested parties fight the decision," says Vilakazi. He agrees with Cell C`s Mankazana that SATRA is the right body to make the decision. "SATRA has shepherded the process to this point and knows more about it," he says.