The three bidders for the under serviced area licences (USALs) who were referred back to the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) for further consideration remain confident in the process.
Amatole Communications in the Eastern Cape`s Amatole District, Karabotel in the Central District in the North West Province and Bokamoso Communications in the Lejweleputswa District of the Free State were all referred back to the regulator by Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri.
ICASA had originally recommended the three, along with the four consortiums that were awarded licences yesterday, provided they met certain conditions.
These conditions included the finalisation of merger discussions with Uqalo Consortium members (Amatole), the submission of a revised shareholding structure, reflective of the wider community (Karabotel) and the removal of warehoused shares from the chairman to the community trust (Bokamoso).
According to Dominic Mokhethi, chairman of the Bokamoso consortium, it has done as ICASA recommended and is preparing the relevant documents as proof, which it will then submit to the regulator.
"We expect to deliver the documents to ICASA by next week Wednesday, and are hopeful that the regulator will be expedient in continuing the process from there," says Mokhethi.
"We were not really surprised at the minister`s decision and fully support it, as we understand that she needs to ensure that all licensing requirements are complied with before granting the licences."
He says that now that the ball is rolling, he hopes the process will continue rapidly, as the consortium is anxious to begin rollout and delivery of services to the Lejweleputswa District.
The four USAL licences that were granted by the minister yesterday went to Bokone Telecomms (Limpopo, Capricorn District); Thinta Thinta Telecoms (KwaZulu-Natal, Ugu District); Kingdom Communications (KZN, Zululand District); and Ilizwe Telecoms (Eastern Cape, OR Tambo Municipality).
Matsepe-Casaburri also said that the second phase of the USAL process would begin during the course of this year, once lessons learnt in the first phase of the process have been absorbed.
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