The Cell C consortium was today officially recommended to the communications minister as the bidder the South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA) believes the third cellular licence should go to.
"We are celebrating and very confident," says spokesperson and director Zwelakhe Mankazana. He expects festivities to last well into the night.
Fellow bidding consortium Nextcom is less pleased. "The process stands exposed as a complete farce, devoid of any legitimacy," Nextcom director and spokesperson Bushy Kelebonye told a press conference this afternoon.
"We believe the blame must now be laid before those who must ultimately take responsibility for the massive damage they have caused to the industry, the economy and the country as a whole - the individual SATRA councillors who stuck with Cell C in the teeth of all evidence that it was inappropriate choice, and the director-general of communications, Andile Ngcaba."
Bushy Kelebonye, director and spokesperson, Nextcom
Nextcom says it will go back to court next week and ask for a full judicial review of the process that led to the decision. "We intend to challenge both the process and the recommendation in court," says Kelebonye. "We believe the blame must now be laid before those who must ultimately take responsibility for the massive damage they have caused to the industry, the economy and the country as a whole - the individual SATRA councillors who stuck with Cell C in the teeth of all evidence that it was inappropriate choice, and the director-general of communications, Andile Ngcaba."
Kelebonye says "whoever has been involved" will be a respondent in the legal challenge, which is to be filed during the course of next week.
He also says Nextcom would be happy to talk to the Telia/Telenor consortium, which plans its own legal challenge.
Nextcom director Anthony Glass says the legal challenge is a patriotic move. "It is our duty, over and above business plans and models, to sort out this stuff," he says. "There is not more than one foreign investor that will be happy to recommend SA as an investment destination [after this process.]"
Cell C`s Mankazana agrees that foreign investment is being hurt, but says delays are causing the damage. "We are losing market share, we are losing consumer confidence and we are losing investor confidence," he says. "The cost is not only to Cell C, but to the country."
Glass estimates that the legal costs of a full judicial review could be between R3 million and R6 million, but says the money has already been raised from Nextcom shareholders.
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