The public hearings into the bids by the two consortiums vying for the second national operator (SNO) licence will take place on 17 and 18 July, with the communication minister`s decision on who it should be awarded to expected in a month or so of these.
The two recommended bidders are CommuniTel, which includes Telecom Namibia, the Umkhonto We Sizwe Military Veterans Association, Gateway Communications (UK/SA), Premier Contracts Agency and supported by British Telecom from the UK, Microsoft and Accenture, KPMG and Deutsche Telekom via T-Systems/Detecon; and Two Consortium, which includes Scandinavian operator Telenor, SwedTel and local company Blue Planet.
Each of the bidders will have one day where they will face questions from their rivals and members of the public regarding their business model, roll-out plans and any other relevant issues.
Following these hearings, the two consortiums will be judged by the Independent Communications Authority of SA on specifically defined criteria, and the one that scores the highest will then be recommended to minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri.
She will then decide whether to award the licence to the consortium put forward by the regulator.
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