Politicians call for Infraco hearings

By Paul Vecchiatto, ITWeb Cape Town correspondent

Johannesburg, 15 Feb 2007

Opposition members of Parliament want to know about the formation of government's new broadband supplier Infraco, and, while not opposed to it, are concerned about how the formation process is unfolding.

Yesterday, Inkatha Freedom Party MP Suzanne Vos, who is part of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications, asked for public hearings into the establishment of Infraco to be convened as a matter of urgency.

Dene Smuts, Democratic Alliance spokesperson on communications, said more information was needed on Neotel's exclusive access to the Infraco fibre optic network, as well as the prospect of Infraco laying down another undersea cable.

Vincent Gore of the Independent Democrats said while Infraco seems to be a good idea, he is worried the actual implementation of other such good ideas - such as the Universal Services Agency of SA - have floundered due to poor implementation.

He also pointed out the main point of reducing costs and increasing connectivity would be achieved through growing competition in the telecommunications sector - a point government seems to keep on missing.

Vos said while her party welcomes any initiative to reduce the cost of communications, it is noted this development by government has been anything but transparent.

Law required

She said legislation must be drafted to legally establish Infraco, a state-owned enterprise, and this must be processed through Parliament.

"It does not appear this legislation has been tabled and, as yet, is not reflected on the Parliamentary programme. This begs the question: how can Infraco be launched next month as announced by the minister [Alec Erwin]?"

Smuts said Erwin's plans do not appear to differ with the liberalised telecoms framework created under the Electronic Communications Act.

"The new law would prevent the Telkom-Neotel duopoly from stifling competition and colluding on pricing [in the hands of a strong regulator]. But the public enterprises minister's intervention could assist greatly in accelerating those goals."

She said the prospect of Infraco building an undersea cable remains vague. "This strikes as extremely ambitious, but we share the minister's commitment to the Square Kilometre Array and the 2010 Soccer World Cup."