The long-awaited construction and maintenance agreement, to build the $640 million West African Cable System (WACS), is to be signed today at Vodacom's head office, in Johannesburg.
Dot Field, Vodacom's chief communications officer, says a press statement concerning the signing would be issued later today.
Andrew Mthembu, WACS chairman and spokesman, refused to comment as he was on his way to the ceremony.
The signing of the agreement has been put off several times already, with the last scheduled date having been 11 March. A contractor to construct the cable also has not been formally announced, although it is expected to be Alcatel-Lucent.
Shareholding structure
WACS grew out of the need to replace the Telkom-controlled SAT-3 cable, which is running out of capacity, and to break the telecommunications company's grip on international connectivity.
The new system will operate on open access and non-discriminatory pricing principles. It will be a traditional type of telecoms shareholder model linking capacity to the amount of money each company puts in.
“A big difference from the SAT-3 model is that, while the shareholders will build and operate the landing stations in their own countries, they will have to give other shareholders equal access. So the 'key-to-the-door' situation, as we have with Telkom, will not exist,” a source says.
WACS shareholders are Telkom, Vodacom, MTN, Broadband Infraco and Neotel from SA. Telecoms companies from Namibia, Botswana and Angola will also have stakes, as will Vodafone (Spain) and British-owned Cable & Wireless.
It is believed the cable has been oversubscribed, with last minute attempts made - as late as yesterday - by potential investors that were rejected.
Departmental anger
Sources within the Department of Communications (DOC) say they are angry with today's news, especially with the participation of Broadband Infraco (which falls under the ambit of the Department of Public Enterprises), as the two departments were supposed to work jointly on a system.
Furthermore, Broadband Infraco does not yet have its individual-electronic network service licence, which is its ticket to operate as a fully-fledged telecoms operator in terms of the Electronic Communications Act.
Communications regulator ICASA is still dealing with the matter and the final decision is only expected after the 20 May scheduled public hearings.
State-owned Broadband Infraco was initially going to build its own system to Europe and another to Brazil. Originally, this was to support the country's bid for the Square Kilometre Array telescope and other state needs, and then resell broadband to commercial entities.
Broadband Infraco signed an agreement with the DOC's Uhurunet project last year and the two government departments agreed to harmonise their strategies.
“Obviously, the Department of Public Enterprises feels it really wants to go ahead with the cable as Cabinet has approved it. However, is it really the project Cabinet approved, because initially it was supposed to be a Broadband Infraco-led system,” a source says.
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