SNO announcement expected today

Johannesburg, 28 Aug 2003

Today is deadline day, when the country finds out which of the two bidders for the 51% equity stake in the second national operator (SNO) licence will be recommended to the minister by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA).

Assuming, that is, the regulator chooses to nominate one and doesn`t decide that neither fit the bill, as was the case during the first round of bidding, when both Optis and Goldleaf were disqualified by ICASA.

While some sources in the industry appear to indicate that this will be the case, others are quietly confident that a bidder will be recommended and the minister will award the licence promptly.

"The one thing I don`t think SA can afford is for this second process to be inconclusive - it is imperative that one of the bidders be recommended for the licence, as the country cannot wait much longer for the SNO," says Andre Wills, an independent telecoms analyst.

"We were supposed to have a licensed SNO by May last year, so this process has been dragging on far too long and needs to be resolved, even if the minister has to set certain conditions for the winning bidder."

Two Consortium, which includes Scandinavian operators Swedtel and Telenor, as well as Blue Planet, which is made up of Mvelaphanda Holdings and African Footprint, is one of the bidders, while the other consortium is CommuniTel.

CommuniTel includes Premier Contracts Agency from the UK, Gateway Communications, Telecom Namibia and the Umkhonto We Sizwe Military Veterans Association, and has the backing of major telecoms operators British Telecom and Deutsche Telekom.

Both consortiums have their merits and both also have some issues which may count against them, but it seems likely that ICASA will effectively have to nominate one of the bidders, as to reject both will leave the regulator open to immense public criticism, as well as potential legal challenges from the bidders, which will only further snarl up the process.

ITWeb will publish news and reaction to the announcement as soon as it becomes available this afternoon.