'LLU won't be a reality by November'

The Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) believes its job will be done when it publishes local loop unbundling (LLU) regulations by November, a deadline it is determined to meet.

However, this will not translate into any practical benefit for alternative telecoms operators that want to gain access to the last mile to compete more aggressively in the space.

LLU was set to become a reality by the end of this year. In 2007, the late minister of communications, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, made a policy decision that the unbundling process should be implemented and completed by 2011.

However, ICASA councillor Thabo Makhakhe yesterday said the authority is in a regulatory-making process, which will “enable” the unbundling of the local loop.

Makhakhe was addressing media and analysts on the release of a discussion document on unbundling, which outlines four options and invites comment from the industry until mid-September.

The document is intended to “begin the national debate on any regulatory action on local loop unbundling”, says Makhakhe. The rationale behind freeing the last mile is to allow more users to access networks, which will push down costs, he says.

However, Richard Hurst, senior analyst of emerging markets at Ovum, argues the industry cannot expect to see unbundling implemented by November. He says ICASA may issue regulations by then, but rolling out access to the last mile is only likely to happen some time next year. “It could be a woolly time period.”

The fixed-line operator previously said LLU is a risk and the November deadline cannot be met, because of all the variables involved.

In addition, ICASA's suggestion that LLU could be extended to include mobile operators having to share their access spectrum will complicate the issue, and further delay the practical reality of unbundling, says Hurst.

Cellular operators have “armies of lawyers who will go to court at the drop of a hat,” he says.

Freeing the last mile is an issue ICASA and the Department of Communications have been working on for the past decade. In 2007, the LLU committee submitted a report to Matsepe-Casaburri, outlining a way forward.

ICASA's GM of markets and competition, Pieter Grootes, says ICASA's discussion document takes the LLU committee's 2007 report, on which Matsepe-Casaburri based her policy directive, forward, because it asks the industry what type of unbundling it wants.

In addition, says Grootes, ICASA's document facilitates a legal approach to make sure the outcome can be enforced. “There's no reason to have this discussion without an outcome.”

The document will also define the practicalities of unbundling, and operators' rights and obligations, says Grootes.