The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) has published a denotation for the term “underserviced area” and what it constitutes as far as operators and broadcasters are concerned.
Hand-in-hand with this, published last week as a complementary document, is the authority's findings in relation to the review of universal service and access obligations (USAOs). USAOs, says ICASA, refer to a range of obligations imposed on telecoms licensees, related either to their service or spectrum licence, that are necessary in overcoming the “digital divide”.
The latter issue goes back about two years, when ICASA invited interested parties to submit written representations on a discussion document reviewing the incumbent USAO regulatory framework, including the need for the development and publication of regulations in terms of the provisions of the Electronic Communications Act.
ICASA says it used district and local municipalities to produce regulations for defining underserviced areas, because “it would have been difficult to limit certain communication services such as broadcasting to ward level [due to the fact that] the scope of coverage, under normal circumstances, covers the whole district or local municipality”.
In terms of USAOs, ICASA says, moving forward, all existing obligations that were imposed and not complied with, still apply to the respective service providers or licensees. “The authority will revise these obligations in consultation with the affected service providers or licensees.”
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