Now that the convergence colloquium is over, we face the real challenge of translating what was discussed into policy and finally regulation. But my concern is the phraseology used as it indicates the current thinking about convergence.
Technology has continued to evolve and I believe that what we must deal with is service neutrality regulation.
Andre Wills, analyst, Africa Analysis
My view is that moving from a vertical-based licensing regime to a horizontal-based licensing regime to achieve technology neutrality is not the fundamental issue. Telkom and the proposed second national operator (SNO) already have the right to use any technology (spectrum availability allowing) but they don`t have the right to offer any service.
Discussing technology neutrality puts our country back some three to four years when the European Union was discussing technology neutrality regulation. Technology has continued to evolve and I believe that what we must deal with is service neutrality regulation. Technology neutrality is a given in today`s telecoms world.
For example, we have three mobile operators that are licensed to provide "mobile voice services" that allows users to access the mobile network anywhere in SA. Telkom and the SNO, on the other hand, are licensed to provide "fixed voice services", namely to make and receive calls from a single fixed point.
All five network operators can use wireless technologies (spectrum availability allowing) to achieve their respective objectives. Thus all use the same technology but the key difference is the service offered: mobile voice vs fixed voice.
Were we to restructure the telecommunications licensing environment into infrastructure- and service-based licensing environment, then the only new element we have added is service-based licences - but this too is not new as we already have VANS and ISPs. These can be broadly classified as a form of service-based licence, albeit with their fair share of service restrictions.
A quick fast-track process to introduce infrastructure and service-based licences would be to remove the restrictions placed upon the current VANS and ISPs and allow them, for example, to retail voice services. This will rapidly introduce service-based competition.
The danger we face is that we play with words and change the class of licences issued. Furthermore, we get caught up with old debates such as technology neutrality - today this is a given. What we must focus on is service neutrality licences as this tackles the issue of convergence at its core, namely: any content on any service on any platform.
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