ISPA responds to SATRA regulations

Johannesburg, 11 May 2000

The South African Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (SATRA) knew its attempt to define Internet service providers (ISPs) and value-added network service providers (VANS) would be contentious. "We expect these definitions to be controversial and specifically included them here to see the industry response," SATRA councillor William Currie told ITWeb after publication of the draft definitions in February.

SATRA published two sets of regulations earlier this year, in an attempt to fill what was seen as a regulatory vacuum. One of these regulations was the interconnect and facility leasing guidelines that was intended to settle current and future disputes between Telkom, those using services Telkom provides and those that are and will be competing with Telkom when its exclusivity expires.

These regulations were recently withdrawn by the Communications Ministry, which infuriated SATRA chairman Nape Maepa.

The other set of draft regulations, which define Internet service provision, voice signals and virtual private networks, are apparently unaffected by the fall-out between the department and the regulator. "We haven't been informed of any changes with regard to those definitions," says SATRA public affairs manager Kotli Molise.

The public hearings on the definitions are scheduled for early June and promise to live up to Currie's expectations. ISPA is concerned about several points, as it explains in a 20-page written submission it released earlier this week.

"The ISPA is concerned at the attempt in the regulations to provide rigid definitions to services," the document reads. "This potentially limits innovation and may result in excessive bureaucracy, as it is impossible to re-define every new service and product as they emerge, especially in light of the rapid pace of development in this industry."

Rather than defining and licensing ISPs and VANS, ISPA believes, SATRA should define what a public switched telephone network is, and allow anything that falls outside that definition. "The definition of a PSTS should be informed by criteria that characterise 'pure transmission' and everything that falls outside of that should be considered a VANS," the association says.

In other words, says the VANS industry, put a fence around Telkom and let the rest of the market roam free.

But ISPA does not expect the regulator to necessarily agree with such a recommendation, and asks for fairness in licensing if that route is followed. Among the issues it would like to see addressed are the differences between services allowed to Telkom and the cellular networks but denied to VANS, licence and application fees, and SATRA's proposal that Telkom be used as executioner if any VANS or ISP is found to have broken the rules.

Both Telkom and the South African VANS Association (SAVA) welcomed the regulations when they were published and both are expected to make representations of their own to the SATRA council.