ICASA to license more USALs

By Damaria Senne, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 21 Jun 2007

The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) expects to license more underserviced area licensees (USALs) within the next two weeks.

This marks the end of a long journey for applicants that were provisionally granted licences to operate in underserviced areas, if they met certain conditions.

However, it is not yet clear whether the new USAL licences will be in line with the directives issued by communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri in her budget in May, or if the process of aligning the licences will come in later.

In August, ICASA granted licences to seven applicants that made up the second batch of potential underserviced area licensees. However, only three of the organisations were issued with licences outright, without conditions.

The other four potential licensees were asked to provide comprehensive information on their financial and/or technical solutions before licences would be granted. They were given two weeks to submit the required information.

ICASA denies the nine months it took the authority to finalise the process caused a delay.

"There are no delays. The applicants have submitted the required information and ICASA is in the process of finalising the licensing process," explains ICASA spokesman Sekgoela Sekgoela.

In theory...

ICASA would not discuss whether all four potential licensees fulfilled the required conditions. Sekgoela would also not discuss whether the new USALs would be licensed under the old USAL licensing conditions.

"ICASA has noted and provided input into the draft policy directives as issued by the minister and once the policy directives have been finalised, will complete the plan to implement the directives," Sekgoela says.

According to the policy directives, USALs are to be merged in provinces where there is more than one, and issued a provincial underserviced area network operator (Pusano) licence. This reduces the final number of USALs from 27 to nine.

Each Pusano will be licensed for individual electronic communications networks and services. This, in theory, allows it to provide the same services Telkom and Neotel will be licensed to provide under the Electronic Communications Act.