Johannesburg, 23 Apr 2012
Fibre industry activist group FTTH Council Africa says the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) is flexing its muscles and holding the industry to ransom through the “illegal” moratorium that has been in place on Johannesburg's East Rand for over a month.
Following a month-long struggle to get the EMM to lift a moratorium on fibre installations that it instituted on 20 March, and an urgent meeting called with industry players and legal counsel last week, lobbyist group FTTH Council Africa and local authorities have reached a deadlock.
According to FTTH Council Africa CEO Juanita Clark, the EMM is effectively holding the industry ransom with demands for certain information its members are not obliged to disclose. “[During the emergency meeting on Wednesday] EMM indicated that they will lift the moratorium if industry supplies them with electronic copies of their networks, including historical information.”
Clark says the Fibre Council cannot commit to the demands on behalf of industry, as this is considered intellectual property. “Electronic communications network service licensees should consider these demands in isolation applicable to their corporate governance.”
She says the moratorium is not only against the Electronic Communications Act (ECA), but it is not in line with the Department of Communications' (DOC's) aims for broadband penetration. “The Fibre Council welcomes processes and procedures by local authorities, but in consultation with the private sector and in line with local law.
“The ECA grants an absolute right to enter upon any land. Land belonging to a local authority is not excluded. [In terms of the DOC's broadband penetration targets] SA remains 120% more expensive than any other BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, SA) country, and without the stimulation of competition and the deployment of broadband networks the country will not see a reduction in prices.
“Further, the EMM did not act reasonably in the institution of such a moratorium. The moratorium was not gazetted and no due processes were followed. There was no public consultation, and to date there is still no evidence of any formal communication that was submitted to industry prior to the moratorium being instituted.”
Clark says the industry has since requested a meeting with communications minister Dina Pule and will keep legal counsel “on standby”.
She says significant financial losses have been incurred due to the moratorium and “industry may consider a class action to recover these losses should they opt to do so”. She cites 5 000 job losses and R150 million in financial losses for the industry.
The EMM did not respond to various requests for comment by the time of publication.
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