Applications and content service providers will not require licences in terms of the Convergence Bill, says Joe Mjwara, Department of Communications deputy director-general in charge of policy.
Mjwara gave a preview of the changes being made to the Bill to members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications yesterday, during the conclusion of the scheduled public hearings into the draft Convergence Bill.
The Bill will replace the telecommunications and broadcasting Acts.
The parliamentary committee has been sitting since May and has received about 44 submissions from governmental bodies, state-owned enterprises, business and civil society. The committee is now scheduled to deliberate on the proposed changes until 13 September.
Mjwara said the department acknowledged that licensing needed further clarity and took the regulator`s (the Independent Communications Authority of SA - ICASA) principles that clarity is needed on issues such as establishing the difference between networks, services, broadcasting and wireless spectrum.
He also acknowledged that definitions within the Bill need to be refined and that consequential clarity was needed.
In terms of the separation of powers between the minister and the regulator, Mjwara said the Bill allows for clarity and points of interaction between the two.
"The minister must consult when issuing policy directives, and ICASA must consult when making regulations."
Interconnection
Mjwara said the Bill would allow for further market liberalisation and level the playing fields for market participants. Related to this will be the right to lease and interconnect for networks, broadcasting and communications services. It would also allow communications services to interconnect with networks and other communications services.
He said interconnection and leasing would be allowed for on a non-discriminatory, non-preferential and transparent basis.
"The Bill recognises that some operators may be found to have significant market power. Wholesale rates may be imposed where an operator is found to have significant market power," Mjwara said.
While the parliamentarians are generally satisfied with the fundamentals of the Bill and that the process has been thorough, they expressed some disappointment that the draft ICASA Amendment Bill was not available for scrutiny at the same time.
"I can confidently say that all parties (within and outside parliament) have found one another. All that is left is to clean up the details," said committee chairman Kgaoglelo Lekgoro of the ANC.
He said the main difficulty was that the ICASA Amendment Bill had not been released, making it difficult to see its effect on the Convergence Bill and visa versa.
"I think we have reached agreement on all the fundamental principles," said Dene Smuts of the Democratic Alliance. "This is the way a legislative committee should work."
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