A bottleneck in the last mile is hindering competition, negating the benefit from increased access to undersea cable and fibre deployments between major cities, argues the Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA).
ISPA was presenting during hearings into local loop unbundling (LLU), at the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA), held this week. ICASA has committed to publishing a regulatory framework by the end of next month.
ISPA's regulatory advisor, Dominic Cull, said the last mile is a bottleneck that is holding up the benefits of competition further up the value chain, such as fibre deployments and undersea cables.
Cull noted the sector saw “massive” liberalisation in 2009, when 500-odd companies qualified for licences, allowing them to self-provision. Previously, this right was limited to six or seven entities, he added.
However, since then, there has not been a single regulatory intervention to enable licensees to make use of their rights, Cull pointed out. He said the lack of progress on LLU, which has been in the pipeline for several years and is not expected to happen next month, will exacerbate the situation.
In addition, noted Cull, ICASA needs to make sure access is not priced in a way that limits competition, and there needs to be transparency in the cost.
Cull urged ICASA to proceed with unbundling the fixed last mile as a matter of urgency, and also look at freeing access to mobile and fibre local loops as a parallel process.
Although copper has a limited lifespan, it will remain relevant for quite some time and needs to be used to maximum benefit. It is regrettable that Telkom is opposed to unbundling the last mile and does not see the potential benefits, he commented.
Telkom previously said it will defend against local loop unbundling, as it will cost the company revenue and is a complex process that will not achieve universal access.
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