ICASA files for quick third cell licence resolution

Johannesburg, 25 Jan 2001

The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) says that last week, it filed an answering affidavit in the Pretoria High Court case which is still delaying the issue of a third cellular licence.

In 1997, ICASA`s predecessor, the SA Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA), started a feasibility study on further competition in the mobile telecommunications arena. Bidding for a third licence closed in June 1999, and SATRA announced an intended preferred bidder in February 2000. But ongoing legal battles with ICASA and bidders Nextcom and Cell C as main protagonists continue to delay the issue of the licence.

ICASA said yesterday that it will dispute the Nextcom application for a judicial review of the entire selection process only on the grounds that SATRA acted in bad faith in selecting Cell C as its preferred bidder.

The authority is also asking that Nextcom foot its legal bills.

"As far as the remainder of Nextcom`s application is concerned, ICASA states in its affidavit that it will abide by the High Court`s decision," the body said in a statement yesterday.

Last year, Nextcom obtained an interdict preventing minister of communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri from issuing the licence, on the grounds that doing so could cause irreparable harm if SATRA had been biased in its selection.

ICASA says its affidavit also contains a "lengthy factual exposition of the procedure that was adopted in considering the application for the licence," with the purpose of assisting judgement on Nextcom`s allegations.

The decision to dispute only part of the case, ICASA says, was made on the grounds that a swift resolution of the case is in the best interests of the telecommunications industry as a whole.

It is expected that Cell C, originally chosen by SATRA as its preferred bidder in the "beauty contest" selection, will further dispute Nextcom`s allegations.

The value of the licence has been estimated at several million rand.