Communications minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri has thrown in the towel over the Altech matter of being granted an individual-electronic communications network service (I-ECNS) licence. She has been termed a villain for opposing it, says the minister.
Altech had taken the ministry of communications; the regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA); and various value-added network services to court claiming it had, in terms of the old Telecommunications Act, the right to self-provide, or build its own network.
This right was previously reserved for companies, such as Telkom, which held public switched telecommunications network services licences, which are to be converted to I-ECNS licences to meet the requirements of the Electronic Communications (EC) Act.
A statement issued by Matsepe-Casaburri's office this weekend says she has decided not to petition the Supreme Court of Appeal in the Altech matter, in the interest of the ICT sector.
“The minister has been made the villain over the past few months for opposing Altech's court action to obtain a network licence. But perhaps reference should be made to some of the minister's reasons in this regard,” the statement says.
Seeking liberalisation
It says government's policy on managed liberalisation is encapsulated in the EC Act. Previously, only a few major operators had the right to provide telecommunications networks. That right has been expanded in the EC Act, where class licences can be obtained from ICASA through a simple registration process.
These class-electronic communications network service (class-ECNS) licences can be obtained by anyone, at any time. They allow building of networks of a small scale and those that do not have significant impact on socio-economic development. The EC Act, however, recognises a separate and distinct type of licence, the individual licence.
“In line with international best practice, the granting of these individual licences is specifically provided for in law. This process of having both individual and class licences is what represents the managed liberalisation of the sector,” the statement says.
The minister's view is that, as part of managed liberalisation, ICASA can only grant I-ECNS licences once she has authorised it in terms of the EC Act (section 5(6)).
Risk of delay
“There are good reasons why managed liberalisation is the policy approach decided upon by government, such as the fact that full liberalisation has failed in many other countries, to the detriment of the consumer. But whether managed liberalisation is the correct policy approach is not the current debate,” the statement says.
It adds that if Matsepe-Casaburri continues with a petition, the risk is that ICASA will not be able to convert licences by 19 January 2009, as required under the EC Act, irrespective of the outcome of the petition.
“This will then require an amendment of the EC Act to extend the licence conversion period, and may effectively delay licence conversions to late 2010. This result is not in anyone's interest and will not best serve the ICT sector, operators and consumers,” it says.
An Altech spokesperson says the company understands that ICASA has to develop the necessary procedures to roll-out the I-ECNS licences and this will take some time.
Dene Smuts, communications spokesperson for official opposition, the Democratic Alliance, says: “This is the only good thing that the minister has done all year; however, she did get herself into the mess in the first place.”
Think it through
Smuts also says: “Now, maybe, the minister has realised it is time for her to apply her mind and not merely follow the disastrous policies set by her director-general [Lyndall Shope-Mafole].”
On 11 November, during a presentation to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications, Shope-Mafole admitted she had recommended that the Altech application be opposed and appealed.
Deputy communications minister Roy Padayachie says he welcomes the decision not to proceed with the appeal, a view that he has always held.
“It is now time to heal the rift between the Department of Communications and industry,” he says.
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