Every local area network (LAN) in the country would have to pay at least a R1 000 licence exemption fee, if ICASA's latest draft licence fee regulations are followed to their logical conclusion, lawyers says.
E-lawyers Dominic Cull and Mike Silber, of Ellipsis Regulatory Affairs, say the draft regulations by the telecommunications regulator do not specify if such local area networks are for private or commercial use.
"This means that possibly millions of local area networks, or even wide area networks, that are in existence and were exempted under the old Telecommunications Act, would now have to pay to obtain that exemption," Cull says.
However, Denis Smit, MD of research firm BMI-TechKnowledge, believes this is not what ICASA intends with these regulations.
"Although I haven't examined the regulations, I do not believe that ICASA wants everybody to pay such a licence fee. Surely, they must differentiate between those networks intended for commercial use and those that are not," he says.
No one knows just how many local and wide area networks are in the country. However, estimates are that it could be more than a million.
"The problem with the regulations is that they also potentially include local area networks set up in the home where a person may have an ADSL line and a wireless router. Would the homes then need to pay a R1 000 licence exemption fee?" Silber says.
Last week, ICASA issued a document to set out the licence fees for the industry in terms of the Electronic Communications Act. The objectives of the regulations is to set licence fees payable in respect of an application or registration for a licence amendment, transfers, or renewals.
The main issue dealt with in the draft regulations is the licence fees for class electronic communications services and electronic communications network services licences (ECNS).
The individual ECNS fees are not covered because the communications minister still has to issue a policy directive and then ICASA has to issue an invitation to those telecommunications companies to apply for such I-ECNS licences.
ICASA had not responded to ITWeb's queries by the time of publication.
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