Fibre industry activist group FTTH Council Africa has given the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) until Wednesday to withdraw what it terms an “illegal moratorium” on fibre installations in Johannesburg's East Rand, or the group will take the body to court.
FTTH Council Africa CEO Juanita Clark says the moratorium was put into place last Tuesday, with no forewarning from the EMM. “Companies were just told to clean up site and leave. EMM later sent a mail stating that current projects may be completed, but no new approvals will be granted, or they will sue them.”
The moratorium, says Clark, is a violation of the Electronic Communications Act (ECA), but the EMM has put it down to an audit of the location of fibre-optic cables and the “refining of internal processes”.
The lobbyist group's stance is that an audit does not warrant a moratorium. “Further, electronic communications networks (ECNS) licensees do not need permission from local authorities to build infrastructure. EMM does not have the authority, or the jurisdiction, to apply a moratorium on the deployment of telecommunications infrastructure.”
A letter from the EMM to the group on Friday indicated a willingness to engage in “meaningful dialogue”, but did not contain a withdrawal of the moratorium. In response to this, Clark says the group has extended the deadline for conclusive withdrawal of the moratorium until midday on Wednesday, with no further deadline being considered.
Industry at ransom
Clark says companies cannot legally be prohibited from deploying infrastructure. “The ECA is clear with regard to the rights of ECNS licensees and the law must be upheld. SA is still 120% more expensive than other BRICS countries, and without competition, we will never see a reduction in prices.”
She says SA is in danger of lagging behind, unless government looks at broadband penetration and the many benefits it holds in terms of economic development. “Local authorities should welcome ECNS licensees as it uplifts their jurisdictions and can attract businesses, since bandwidth is critical to SaaS and cloud applications. For households, there are other benefits, such as electronic meter readings and security.”
Clark says it is necessary to have an urgent workshop between industry and local authorities “to understand how we can work together to facilitate rapid deployment of infrastructure”.
EMM CIO Lillian Phahla said it is in the process of formulating a media statement, but could not respond in time for publication.
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