Telecoms policy due Thursday

Johannesburg, 24 Jul 2001

The Communications Ministry says minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri will release the long-awaited final telecoms policy directions on Thursday.

Stakeholders have been invited to a briefing at Gallagher Estate on Thursday morning where the directions will be made public. Despite a high level of interest and intense speculation, no copies of the document appear to have leaked yet, and it is uncertain whether the final directions will differ substantially from the intended directions released in March.

Ministerial spokesman Robert Nkuna says the directions have already been approved by cabinet, even though the minister is today attending a cabinet lekgotla where the policy will be one item of discussion.

The release of the directions will enable government and ICASA, the Independent Communications Authority of SA, to proceed with the next steps towards introducing a competitor to Telkom by May next year.

The communications ministry has said it will attempt to fast track amendments needed to the Telecommunications Act through Parliament as soon as the current recess ends, but it may face opposition from the Democratic Alliance, which earlier this year described the initial directions as "an embarrassment we can ill afford".

ICASA may have a smoother ride on the regulatory side. Chairman Mandla Langa said last week that draft regulations based on the initial proposed policy were already being finalised. "Once the policy directions and draft legislation are published, these regulations will be put out for 30 days` public comment," he said.

By law, regulations have to open to comment for a 60-day period, but the legislation makes provision for a shorter period where it is deemed to be in the public interest.

Many interests, many eyes

All major players in the telecoms industry are expected to attend the policy announcement, as all have interests in different areas that were initially mooted.

Of most general interest will be the number of fixed-line licences up for grabs. The ministry made it clear in the initial policy that it would introduce only one competitor to Telkom next year, and would follow a process of introducing more licences after 2005. But last week speculation was ignited that hard lobbying by a number of parties may have led to a change of heart, and that at least two licences will be on offer.

Telkom and M-Cell, a potential second fixed-line operator, will be looking for a change in the policy towards Sentech. The signal distributor was originally to be granted an international gateway licence, one of the most lucrative areas in telecoms. Both Telkom and M-Cell objected to the clause.

M-Cell will also be interested in the forced equity stake government-owned Eskom Enterprises and Transtel were originally to be given in any new licensee in return for the use of their existing infrastructure. The intended directions did not specify a percentage, but Eskom has been campaigning for a 35% stake.

Cellular operators will be more interested in any definition of the term "fixed-mobile", which was used in relation to fixed-line operators in the original policy. It is generally accepted that the term was meant to indicate fixed-wireless services, but there has been fear that Telkom and other fixed-line operators will be allowed to compete with MTN, Vodacom and Cell C on their own turf should others be granted what is in essence mobile licences.

The Internet industry and non-governmental organisations will be scrutinising provisions for voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) directions. Initially the policy was to ban any use of VOIP by any party other than Telkom and its competitors, a move that was widely and harshly criticised as holding back technology to boost the yield government would expect from the Telkom privatisation and subsequent licences.

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