Ivy loses Altech appeal

Johannesburg, 31 Oct 2008

Allied Technologies (Altech) has won yet another coup in its battle against the Department of Communications.

After two days of legal submissions at the Pretoria High Court, acting judge N Davis refused communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri the right to appeal a judgement which found in favour of Altech last month.

The judge heard the application for leave to appeal arguments from the minister and the opposing arguments from Altech yesterday, and today delivered his decision that the minister's application for leave to appeal would be refused on all points, with costs.

The initial battle

The case follows the ongoing battle between the department and the value-added network service (VANS) providers on whether the latter should be entitled to the coveted electronic communications network service (ECNS) licences.

The Transvaal Division of the High Court ruled in favour of an urgent application brought by Altech Autopage Cellular on the question of whether VANS are allowed to self-provide (build their own networks or lease these facilities from companies such as Telkom).

The initial legal action was aimed both at the Independent Communication Authority of SA and the DOC; however, only the communications minister decided to appeal the decision. The DOC lodged papers with the Johannesburg High Court on 18 October.

On 19 September, the DOC issued a statement saying it would appeal the 29 August ruling handed down by acting High Court judge Dennis Davis that VANS have the right to self-provide, or build their own networks.

Justice is delayed

Matsepe-Casaburri's actions caused much chagrin in the telecommunications industry. The application for leave to appeal meant the industry was not able to go ahead with planned investments to develop infrastructure that would likely bring down the domestic cost of telecoms by increasing competition against the established operators, such as Telkom, Vodacom, MTN, Cell C and Neotel.

“It has been incredibly frustrating for us to have to wait again,” says Siyabonga Madyibi, senior regulatory officer for Internet Solutions, one of the companies investing in infrastructure in the hopes it will receive an i-ECNS licence.

Altech CEO Craig Venter commented: “This is a powerful affirmation of our original court victory, and indicates there is little prospect of any other court coming to a different conclusion. This brings Altech, the industry and the consumer within touching distance of a level playing field and fair market competition.”

To see the full judgement, click here.