The big stick of regulatory intervention to bring down telecommunications costs was waved by communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda, during a parliamentary media briefing yesterday.
Speaking to the press the day after delivering his maiden budget vote speech, Nyanda said engagement with the sector had not helped reduce costs significantly and the country remained one of the most expensive in the world for connectivity.
“ICASA has attempted to engage the private sector on this matter, but it has not been able to achieve much; we must do more and, if it means bringing in new regulations, then we must do that.”
Nyanda said that, so far, he has had one briefing from the regulator on what is happening in the sector, “...but ICASA has not managed to come to grips with the issue. There are only two fixed-line operators and we have to ensure they do not collude... There is a role to play for regulations in this regard.”
He noted that the issue of reducing costs seems to be complicated, citing the example of call termination, where calls made from one network operator to another added to the amount consumers had to pay. Nyanda said competition in the sector had brought some prices down, but not far enough.
The minister said the Department of Communications aims to finalise a national broadband policy by March next year. He explained it will provide a holistic and coordinated national approach to issues of providing affordable, reliable and secure broadband infrastructure and services.
Broadband and connectivity costs will be the main issues of the panel of advisors that Nyanda will appoint and whose recommendations will assist to design appropriate interventions to address the cost to communicate effectively.
On other issues, Nyanda said cellular network operator MTN had informed him of some form of tie-up with India's Bharti Airtel. “However, I expect the discussions to be quite protracted.”
Nyanda said he had not been informed about any possible collusion between an ICASA councillor and Cosatu to stop the Vodacom listing, and it is a matter Parliament has to deal with.
He added no firm decision has been taken on the future of the under-serviced area licensees (USALs), but that so far the concept and the possible remedy had not worked.
Nyanda's predecessor, the late Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, proposed grouping the USALs into some kind of provincial groups, but this has not been followed through.
“Things have changed drastically since the concept of USALs was first discussed, and we will commission a report on what to do,” he said.
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