Dimension Data is pushing for the adoption of open access as the predominant model in the deployment of fixed and wireless network infrastructure and spectrum allocation, believing that this is the best model to create an equitable operating environment.
Andile Ngcaba, executive chairman of Dimension Data Middle East and Africa, said the company is advocating an open access model uptake within the telecommunications sector, as it is a "key infrastructure development model" that would enable the provision of the best services to consumers.
"We are advocating this in the way fibre is deployed, in long-haul, metro and access, because we believe that for us as a market, a country and a continent, to provide best services, we need to have this open access model," he told journalists during a media briefing.
Ngcaba revealed that Dimension Data is holding discussions with various private sector players to ensure large-scale adoption of the model, and is also in talks with municipal authorities around the country to convince them that the best way to build metro connectivity is through open access.
"We've had the same discussions with the like of Sanral [South African National Roads Agency] to present to them the argument that open access as the key infrastructure development model to ensure we can provide customers with the best services."
In terms of wireless infrastructure, Ngcaba noted that South Africa "is at a juncture of looking at how to give out spectrum in the form of 2.6GHz" and in spectrum bands referred to as the so-called digital dividend.
"Again, we argue here that the best model, in order to allow an equitable environment where new entrants to the market and incumbents can operate in a manner that is fair, from a competition point of view, is an open access model for the way in which spectrum is given out," he said.
He reiterated the suitability of open access against the backdrop of a global and local push for 4G and 5G adoption, whether in the context of base station or optic fibre deployment.
Need for shift
Ngcaba also pointed out the need for a regulatory environment shift, as statutory regulators - such as the Independent Communications Authority of SA - are unable to keep pace with the speed of technology development.
Industry bodies, such as the FTTH Council, WASPA and ISPA, as well as their international counterparts, are becoming self-regulating entities, "where the industry is regulating itself because of wanting to do things in a certain way", where the rules are very clear.
"New model is that these organisation will have a role in regulating some of the subsectors they are involved in," he said, adding that this has given rise to the concept of co-regulation among statutory regulators and industry bodies.
"This is the model we see developing in a number of markets around the world. We encourage this, as these organisations will ensure there is harmony between players."
Ngcaba explained that, as a result, the functions of these industry organisations would grow and develop, as the market evolves into an environment of open access.
Domain of regulation, he stated, is split into three areas: statutory regulators, co-regulatory models (a combination of industry entities and statutory regulators), and the industry regulatory system (where players operating within a sector come together to regulate the way in which they operate).
"We come from an environment where a statutory body was only entity that would regulate a particular sector or subsector of the industry. That has certainly changed and the critical issue is to make the industry regulator aware of these changes, so that an entity that acts as a sector regulatory body can make certain regulations and the statutory body must recognise those decisions," said Ngcaba.
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