Communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri has extended the deadline for applications for the second round of underserviced area licences (USALs).
Matsepe-Casaburri stated in the latest Government Gazette that applications must be submitted no later than 2pm on 22 April 2005, extending the original deadline of 21 February by two months.
According to Phineas Moleele, project manager for USALs at the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA), the deadline has been extended for practical reasons.
"ICASA and the Department of Communications were committed to a series of roadshows in the regions where the USALs are due to be awarded, in order for the people of the region to be made aware of what is planned," says Moleele.
"However, the roadshows only finished on 14 February, leaving interested parties just a week in which to get their applications ready, therefore the minister thought it prudent to extend the deadline."
The second phase of the USAL process is open to all small, medium and micro enterprises that wish to apply for a licence in the provinces of Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Gauteng, North West and Mpumalanga.
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