Mbeki calls for faster unbundling

By Damaria Senne, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 27 Aug 2007

President Thabo Mbeki is pushing the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) to speed up the process of unbundling the local loop.

The unbundling will allow local telecommunications operators access to the last mile of the telecoms infrastructure. Telkom owns the infrastructure, controlling communications providers' access to the customer.

Speaking at a media briefing following the seventh annual Presidential International Advisory Council over the weekend, Mbeki said: "ICASA must intervene to speed up the process of unbundling the local loop."

However, Mbeki did not provide guidelines as to how ICASA could speed up the process so the local loop is unbundled before the 2011 deadline set through a ministerial policy directive.

He said speeding the unbundling of the local loop would enable cities to access communications infrastructure to provide services for citizens. This would speed up the process of building the information society, he noted.

Mbeki said SA must develop a practical, time-bound programme to accelerate the process of building communications infrastructure and the human resources that would use it to improve the economy.

ICASA spokesman Sekgoela Sekgoela was unable to outline the progress the regulator has made in the loop unbundling process since communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri issued related determinations in May.

He was also unable to provide input on the measures put in place to fast-track the process.

"ICASA is in the process of finalising all the local loop unbundling, including all the other determinations," he said.