Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA) chairman Paris Mashile has lashed out at "token empowerment" within the telecoms industry, accusing many companies of using their BEE status purely to gain business.
At yesterday's Intenetrix conference, hosted by Internet Solutions, Mashile said he was tired of seeing historically-disadvantaged people included in business only to play a sidelined role in the day-to-day operations.
Mashile added that telecommunications is an industry dominated by white-owned businesses and he would like to see some "truly empowered" companies - built from the ground up - take on the incumbents.
According to Mashile, this is why ICASA decided to include the 51% BEE requirement for entities looking to bid for WiMax spectrum. "We are trying to encourage empowered businesses, built from the ground up, to bid for the spectrum."
The authority published its decision on how it wants to allocate the 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz bands, last month. It will auction WiMax spectrum to bidders, but not before it has held a beauty contest to whittle down the list of eligible players.
In an interview, after the panel discussion, Mashile said the small amount of spectrum available to bidders would be an ideal platform for ICASA to promote new BEE players in the market.
He added that those businesses looking to bid without 51% BEE status must "adapt". "There is nothing stopping white businessmen from forming partnerships with empowered companies and coming in at 40% stake," he explained.
All for one?
During the conference panel discussion, outgoing Vodacom CEO Alan Knott-Craig said telecoms was not about empowering a handful of companies, but "empowering the country's people". He added that, until the telecoms space is liberalised, the prices will remain high and the country as a whole will not benefit."
Knott-Craig said that currently most of the WiMax spectrum available is being held by Telkom and Sentech. "If ICASA released the spectrum which Sentech holds to companies that can actually use it, prices could drop by at least two thirds."
According to Mashile, any company which is not making full use of its allocated spectrum, would have it taken away. "If you don't use it, you will lose it."
He says this could include Sentech, however, he also urged panellists to keep in mind the dynamics of Sentech. "It has been shackled by National Treasury. Having said that, government committed to giving Sentech the funds it needs at the Polokwane Conference."
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