ICASA slams media, industry

By Damaria Senne, ITWeb senior journalist

Midrand, 11 Oct 2007

Tracy Cohen, an Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) councillor, has blasted the media for inaccurate reporting on the regulator`s activities and debating issues out of context.

She addressed ITWeb`s 2007 Broadband and Wireless Conference, in Johannesburg, yesterday.

Cohen also took the opportunity to reassure the ICT industry that the regulator is on track with moving the communications sector to a regulatory environment based on the Electronic Communications (EC) Act of 2006.

Prefacing her talk on effective regulation, Cohen said: "It almost doesn`t matter what you say, how you say it and what visual aids you use. You can expect inaccuracy of quotations, and the questions that will be asked have nothing to do with what you said."

Cohen also criticised the media for wasting ICASA`s time asking questions they could easily have researched.

She also noted that regulatory issues should not be written about out of context. "With the power to be read comes the obligation to be accurate."

Firm time frames

Cohen also dealt with criticisms levelled at the regulator by the industry. These criticisms included comments that the regulator was not moving fast enough in getting the South African telecommunications industry into a new regulatory framework based on the EC Act.

Gateway Communications COO Mike van den Bergh, Internet Solutions regulatory affairs senior manager Siyabonga Madyibi and BMI-TechKnowledge senior analyst Richard Hurst recently said regulatory uncertainty in SA forced local operators to increasingly look to the rest of Africa for revenue growth.

Cohen said ICASA is aware there is anxiety and uncertainty in the ICT sector during the change to the EC Act, despite the agreed-upon two-year transition period. "This might not be fast enough for your liking, but I can tell you we are on track."

She said it is important to get the framework right as conversion brings far-reaching changes. "This cannot - should not - be done overnight."

Ongoing work

Cohen also noted that ICASA has been conducting public hearings on matters that will drive the conversion process forward.

The regulator recently completed hearings on the terms and conditions of communication licences, and has started another session on interconnection and facilities leasing, she said. The three-day public hearings began today and end on Monday.

ICASA spokesman Sekgoela Sekgoela says this will be the second time that ICASA holds interconnection and facilities leasing hearings after the promulgation of the EC Act. ICASA also held hearings on interconnection when SA still operated under the Telecommunications Act.

ICT stakeholders are to provide oral input on the proposed framework that will govern the principles, terms and conditions, time frame and procedures under which communications providers interconnect.

ICASA hopes this round of interconnection hearings will result in the finalisation of interconnection and facilities leasing regulations, says Sekgoela.

The public hearings follow ICASA`s invitation for ICT stakeholders to submit written comments on the draft interconnection and facilities leasing regulations that were published in July.