The telecommunications policy directions published by the Department of Communications last week will probably see at least two groups making use of the 30-day comment period to lodge fundamental objections to different parts of the document.
Providers of value-added network services (VANS) are to lodge what Mike van den Bergh, chairman of the SA VANS Association (SAVA), predicts will be a "strongly worded" input after the association was caught by surprise on voice over Internet protocol (VOIP) restrictions.
"We couldn`t believe it when we saw that continued prohibition," he says. "It came totally out of left field."
The policy directions, gazetted by the Department of Communications as part of government`s managed liberalisation process of the telecoms sectors, calls for a continuation of the present regulations which make the provision of real-time voice over Internet infrastructure illegal, except for Telkom which holds both telephony and data licences. The second national operator (SNO), which is to switch on its services in May next year, will operate under similar conditions.
The VOIP restrictions were implemented in 1996 as part of Telkom`s exclusivity, to protect its income while it rolled out basic services in rural areas. The Department of Communications says the ban will be continued for similar reasons.
"We will allow the services-based competitor in 2005," said Andile Ngcaba, director-general of the department, at a press conference yesterday. "If we allow VANS operators to use voice over IP now it opens up the market right now."
The second operator will be expected to build its own network by 2005, as the government says it wishes to promote the growth of infrastructure. In the meanwhile, it will be allowed to compete on a services level using the Telkom network. In 2005 at least one more licence will be issued, this time for a services competitor. At that point, the market will also be assessed to determine the viability of more operators and consider regulation changes.
But Van den Bergh says preventing VANS from using VOIP in their operations is not only out of step with technology and untenable from a business point of view, but unenforceable. "This will make us the laughing stock of the modern world," he says.
He says SAVA and others did not raise the issue of VOIP during policy discussions, including the telecommunications colloquium in February, as it was unthinkable to continue the restrictions once Telkom`s exclusivity ended.
Potential competitors for the second licence are also expected to have objections to the plans, which include allowing broadcast signal distributor Sentech to operate an international service directly to customers. Sentech is expected to make use of converged digital broadcast technology to deliver such services.
One executive with a potential bidder says the government seems to have great expectations of the new operator in terms of infrastructure roll-out, but is at the same time threatening the lucrative business of international calls with the Sentech licensing. There are also concerns about the forced inclusion of Eskom Enterprises and Transtel in the new licence.
However, public enterprises minister Jeff Radebe, responsible for turning the government stake in businesses such as Telkom, Eskom and Transtel into cash, says the inclusion is simply sensible.
"The inclusion of Eskom and Transtel in the SNO has been informed by a careful analysis of international best practice, and our desire to offer existing telecommunications infrastructure to the SNO process," he said at the press conference. "This, in our view, will see a rapid roll-out of telecommunications infrastructure, thereby ensuring a meaningful contribution and competition at an infrastructure level within the shortest possible time."
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