DOC to oppose WAPA court application

Cape Town, 26 May 2008

The Department of Communications (DOC) plans to oppose a High Court application by the Wireless Application Providers Association (WAPA) to obtain a ruling that value-added network services (VANS) can self-provide.

In April, WAPA filed papers with the High Court, in Johannesburg, asking for a ruling saying VANS should be allowed to self-provide; in other words, build their own networks, and thus be allowed to obtain class electronic network service licences (ECNS) in terms of the Electronic Communications Act.

WAPA cited the respondents as being the DOC, communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri and telecommunications regulator the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA).

Only the DOC had indicated it would oppose the application by the deadline date of 21 May and no word has been received from ICASA, says a WAPA legal representative.

Johan Botha, a director of wireless applications company Amobia and part of the WAPA action, says: "WAPA will wait to see details of the DOC's opposing papers, after which we may look at consolidating the WAPA and Altech (self-provisioning part) cases, since we are asking the same question."

Altech Autopage filed an application with the Johannesburg High Court earlier this month.

The difference between the two complaints is that WAPA wants the courts to rule that VANS are allowed to self-provide, while Autopage wants the courts to rule for self-provision and that the entire licence conversion process is flawed. The company also states the minister's press release of January 2005, in which she stated it was not her intention to allow VANS to self-provide, was ultra vires, or beyond her powers.

In particular, Autopage wants the court to stop ICASA from continuing with the competitive process to grant selected VANS individual electronic communications network service (I-ECNS) licences in terms of the Electronic Communications Act. It also wants ICASA to be prevented from granting selected VANS I-ECNS licences before the mentioned process is completed.

ICASA has since agreed to stop the conversion process.

The WAPA legal representative says his organisation is still awaiting the details on what grounds the DOC is opposing the application.

Neither the DOC nor ICASA had commented by the time of publication.