Government is planning to revise the policy which governs the formation and licensing of underserviced area licensees (USALs), which will result in USAL licences being reissued.
The policy revision will affect 10 USALs that have already been licensed, as well as companies the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) is reviewing for potential licensing.
Speaking to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications yesterday, communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said the USALs, the first of which were licensed in December 2004, were in great distress and failed to fulfil their intended role of providing telecoms services in rural areas.
Matsepe-Casaburri attributed part of the problem to "suspect contracts", which the USALs signed with the private sector.
"Especially among the first licensees, they signed contracts with private companies that were very suspect and because of that, experienced great difficulty. We took a careful look at the licensees who later received their licences and they are not experiencing such difficulties," she said.
No time frame
Matsepe-Casaburri did not indicate the time frame for the policy revision and what such a move would mean for the industry. However, she did indicate her department was in favour of the USALs and municipalities forming some kind of relationship to roll-out telecommunications infrastructure together.
In reaction, Dominic Cull, a lawyer with Nicci Fergusson Attorneys, says the USALs have been hamstrung by the lack of guidance and mentorship, and the failure to promulgate certain regulations.
"The asymmetrical interconnect regulations that were drafted in 2002 have not been passed yet and this has hampered the rise of the USALs," Cull says.
The Universal Service Agency of SA (USAASA), under whose auspices the USALs fall, says it has been working on a new strategy that will assist it to better fulfil its responsibilities.
However, a USAASA spokesman could not comment on the potential impact the policy revision will have on its operations.
He does, however, note the industry has been calling for action that will help USALs become more effective, and to gain greater access to investor funding.
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