Presentations in the case brought by Altech Autopage Cellular against the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA), to interdict the value-added network service (VANs) provider licence conversion process, have been concluded.
All parties are now waiting for the judgement to be passed. According to ICASA spokesman Sekgoela Sekgoela, judgement in the matter has been reserved until the documentation, presented over the last three days, has been reviewed.
Sekgoela says the regulator will reveal more information once a verdict has been passed.
The case follows the ongoing battle between ICASA and the VANs providers over whether the latter should be entitled to the coveted electronic communications network service (ECNS) licences.
The licences would give VANs the same capabilities as the bigger industry players, such as Telkom, MTN, Vodacom and Neotel, allowing them to build their own national communications networks.
Case pending
In a pre-emptive move, Altech Autopage launched an urgent application in April, with the Transvaal High Court, to interdict the licence conversion process.
Autopage wants the court to stop ICASA from continuing with the competitive process to grant selected VANs ECNS licences in terms of the Electronic Communications Act. It also wants ICASA to be prevented from granting selected VANs ECNS licences before the court case is completed.
Many of the other VANs are outraged at Altech's move, saying the case will only hold up the conversion process for those who will be granted the necessary licences.
Internet Solutions (IS), Vox Telecom along with Smile Communications submitted an interdict to stop Altech's case going through. However, because of high legal costs, IS and Vox pulled out of the process.
At this year's Intenetrix conference, held earlier this month, the general consensus from VANs was that if Altech did not win its case against the regulator, the entire process would have been a waste of time. However, they agreed that if Altech succeeded in its legal action, the industry could face a big bang growth explosion and the case would set a precedent.
Altech was not available for comment at the time of publication.
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