In the long dark hours after lunch, one has to thank Telkom for providing some badly needed levity at the convergence colloquium in Sandton yesterday. It also provided perhaps the clearest example of an optimistic new mood among stakeholders in the telecommunications sector.
When CEO Sizwe Nxasana took the podium, as one of a lengthy list of speakers outlining what they`d like the various working groups at the colloquium convergence to discuss, the smirks were already visible.
The timing of this colloquium, so shortly after the Telkom IPO, and the rapid policy process it envisages, suggests that government too has finally grown weary of protecting Telkom.
Ivo Vegter, Deputy Editor, ITWeb Brainstorm
There was little new in what everyone asked for, and it seems redundant to rehash views expressed many times since the last great talk-shop in early 2001.
But when Nxasana put up a slide halfway through his presentation, he was hardly able to complete the first sentence. Everybody knows Telkom likes "managed liberalisation", but when he tried to complete "grandfathering of existing rights in a new licensing regime", he found himself unable to continue. Titters grew into hoots of laughter, and even Nxasana couldn`t keep a straight face as he attempted to explain about how good optimal use of existing investments and facilities-based competition really are.
His colleague of six years, Telecom Malaysia`s Chian Khai Tan, representing Thintana, tried to do better, talking about an "orderly, systematic and consultative" approach. Slipping only once (he too said "grandfathering") he suggested that managed liberalisation did not mean "crowding the marketplace" and that Thintana (a 30% shareholder in Telkom) did "not want to see new players or smaller players get burnt".
This time the hoots were positively derisive.
A new mood breaks out
This reaction, in an unexpected but elegant way, captures the first day`s proceedings at the colloquium. The Department of Communications director-general, Andile Ngcaba, has announced a very rapid process to bring existing laws in line with what the country needs to take advantage of converged infrastructure, services, content and applications.
Telkom wanted to slow the train down. It was timidly backed by the Post Office and the SABC. Other players with something to lose - notably Cell C, MTN and Vodacom - weren`t quite as heavy on the brakes, but they too sounded a note of caution. "Six months, DG, is really very short," said MTN`s commercial director, Irene Charnley. "Leapfrogging is a positive objective," noted Vodacom`s Andrew Mthembu, "but let`s not get ahead of ourselves."
By contrast, second national operator contenders want things to roll on rather more rapidly than they have seen to date - they would like to see flexibility, a growing market and new opportunities. Others, including most media players, signal distributors and Internet service providers, wanted an equally rapid process, and Ngcaba indicated with a shake of the head to Peter Matlare, the SABC`s CEO, that there wouldn`t be enough time for the Green Paper, White Paper process.
SITA CEO, Ken Modise, said of the speed of policy implementation: "All of us, eight years ago, were very hungry to get into this business, and we said, `go fast`. Now, we`re on the other side, we`re executives, and we`re saying `go slow`? If we do not liberate the business and the market, how are we going to learn? Our continent has to be more aggressive on regulation. Or are we all so comfortable that we don`t want to transform the industry? This policy process will come into effect in 2005 or 2006. What do we do in the mean time? Debate how to make things better? Or actually make it better?"
UUNet`s MD, David Meintjes, won plaudits with his effective speech: "The matter is so simple, it does not need slides. When I hear `go slow`, I hear `protect me`. When I hear `manage liberalisation`, I hear `give me time to work on my business model`.
"Ten years ago, we were the ninth most connected country in the world. Then we slipped to 11, now we`re at 20. Less than 7% of our people have access to the Internet. We need to get to Korea`s 59%. DG, you have a tough task.
"You need to take money that`s in the pockets of players, put it back on the table, and regulate in the public interests. Take a greenfields approach. Ignore vested interests. Regulate in the interests of the people of SA.
"In the last five years, we`ve seen a decrease of 65% in Internet costs. We`ve seen a 45% increase in Telkom costs. There are 90 Internet players. QED.
"Be positive. Be bold. We need it."
A new mood in government too?
The timing of this colloquium, so shortly after the Telkom IPO, and the rapid policy process it envisages, suggests that government too has finally grown weary of protecting Telkom; disenchanted with the great disservice that the resulting telecommunications policy has done to SA`s people and economy.
In the issues the minister of communications, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, raised during her opening address - voice over data, horizontally rather than vertically integrated market structure, lower costs - there seem to be a clear message that harks back to the days when Ngcaba was talking of three, five, even twelve telecoms licences.
Such radical stuff may no longer be advisable, but the minister has the opportunity, with this new policy process, to oversee a great recovery in what our telecoms dispensation has given (or rather, denied) us. The DG once again seems driven. Mutters of dissatisfaction about the telecommunications costs that discourage foreign investment have been heard within the Department of Trade and Industry. The African Union and Nepad have sparked a new level of progressive ambition among those in government. And failure to deliver on universal service goals mean that calls to bridge the digital divide are as loud and valid as they were in 1994.
By the time the colloquium closes today, we may know whether this, finally, is the policy that delivers on the promises that for so long have seemed just out of reach.
Be positive, Ngcaba. Be bold, minister. We need it.
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