The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) says it has focused its efforts to address outstanding debt and expects to be in a "considerably better position" when it reports on its current financial year in the latter part of the year.
This comes as SA's telecoms regulator has been put under pressure from the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications (PPCC) to sort out its revenue collection system, as the body continues to be weighed down by outstanding licence fees (now amounting to almost half a billion rand) and related legal disputes.
Democratic Alliance shadow communications minister Marian Shinn says there appears to be "new energy" in the management at ICASA. "Slow burning" as this new drive may seem, says Shinn, "I hope these are the first steps to getting the regulator to operate effectively".
Shinn notes that, while no fresh information has come to light on ICASA's fee-gathering actions, "there are follow-up questions in the pipeline". She says it can take months for replies to filter through. "We will next see ICASA at annual report presentation time, which will be in the last term of the year - September/October time. [We will further] interrogate their progress then."
Shinn has been involved in meetings between ICASA and the auditor-general, as well as the PPCC in April.
Addressing issues
Dominic Cull, owner of Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions, notes that - while ICASA's inability to effectively collect licence fees does not have direct implications for the authority, it has implications for the fiscus. "In my understanding, ICASA transfers the money they get in to the National Revenue Fund within 30 days of receiving it - so it does not directly affect their budget."
However, he says if ICASA keeps getting qualified audits from the auditor-general, the body will struggle to maintain its requisite budget in future.
"The portfolio committee has made it clear that ICASA has to sort out revenue collection."
Cull says while the authority is "definitely trying" to meet the demands, it is still too early to determine whether its latest efforts will be successful.
ICASA spokesperson Paseka Maleka says the authority is in the process of addressing all outstanding licence fees, via "an array of debt recovery mechanisms".
He says the process includes reviewing disputed amounts, as well as taking legal action to recover outstanding licence fees where necessary.
"As the authority continues to recover all outstanding debt, ICASA will not have been able to have addressed all outstanding debts by the time of the tabling of the annual report in 2013. However, it is anticipated that due to the current debt recovery methods and focused effort in this regard; that ICASA will be in a considerably better position when reporting on the current financial year," says Maleka.
Ongoing disputes
ICASA is locked in disputes around outstanding licence fees with iBurst parent company Wireless Business Solutions (WBS), and mobile operators Vodacom and Cell C.
A report yesterday reiterated ICASA's earlier assertion that it is owed in excess of R189 million by the SA National Defence Force - an amount that emerged from the authority's financial turnaround plan.
ICASA maintains it is owed over R60 million by WBS - while the company says it owes the authority considerably less. A legal case is currently under way.
"The WBS matter is still in court following the search and seizure of the company's radio communication equipment, and ICASA is not in a position to comment further except to the extent that the authority went to court with WBS on 10 June and ICASA is currently awaiting the judgement, which we expect to be out by the end of this month or early next month. The judgement will then determine the next step on this particular matter."
Cell C disputes the amount of R107.3 million ICASA says it owes, and is awaiting feedback from ICASA as to where the issue stands. "Cell C maintains its position that there are no outstanding fees owed to ICASA," says executive head of communications Karin Fourie.
Similarly, Vodacom is embroiled in a fight with the authority over the amount of R77.8 million ICASA says it owes for overdue licencing fees.
Share
