ICASA licenses more USALs

By Damaria Senne, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 09 Jan 2008

In December, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) licensed seven more telecommunications providers to operate in under-serviced areas, bringing the number of under-serviced area licensees (USALs) to 14.

ICASA spokesman Sekgoela Sekgoela says the regulator granted class electronic communications network service licences (ECNS) to PlatiTel, Ilembe Communications, Metsweding Telex, Dinaka Telecoms, Mitjodi Telecoms and Nyakatho Telecoms.

Records indicate Ukhalamba Communications, Northcom and Nkangala Telecoms were also in the running to be licensed as USALs during this phase.

"We are still waiting for technical plans from the other applicants that we have not licensed yet. But I cannot name who they are," says Sekgoela.

This licensing took place days after unhappy potential licensees, who have waited for ICASA to communicate its intentions to them, submitted an open letter to the regulator's chairman and CEO Karabo Motlana.

Previously, potential licensees have complained that ICASA was taking too long to license them. "USALs will be bankrupt by the time ICASA sorts out the structure as directed by the communications minister in recently published policy directives," one representative of the potential licensees said.

The representative says he does not think the open letter to the chairman directly forced the regulator to grant new USALs licences. However, he is happy that it has been done. "ICASA must have planned to make a push to grant the licences by the end of the year."

Bypassing bureaucracy

Sekgoela says the entities were licensed under the Electronic Communications (EC) Act of 2006, rather than as USALs as defined by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, he says.

SA has converted to a framework governed by the EC Act, so it made sense for ICASA to license the new entities under the EC Act, rather than USALs, and then converting them.

Another advantage the new USALs gained is that they were granted the coveted ECNS licences, which allow them to build their own networks if they wish.

"Because the licence conditions governing USALs allowed them to build their own networks, the new licensees qualified for this type of licence."

Sekgoela adds that ICASA will, in due course, provide further details of the progress the regulator has made in licensing new entities, as staff involved in the process are still on leave.