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Govt's 'radical' ICT policy treads on uncharted ground

Simnikiwe Mzekandaba
By Simnikiwe Mzekandaba, IT in government editor
Johannesburg, 26 Jan 2017
Industry experts believe the ICT white paper goes against international best practice.
Industry experts believe the ICT white paper goes against international best practice.

SA's telecoms industry is not perfect but functions fairly well; however, government's proposed National Integrated ICT Policy White Paper could turn the sector on its head.

This is the sentiment shared by Dobek Pater, MD of Africa Analysis, a market research, analysis, advisory and consulting firm.

Pater made the comments while delivering analyst commentary on the impact of topics presented in the ICT white paper, and the likely consequences for SA's telecoms industry, during a media briefing hosted by the Free Market Foundation (FMF), yesterday.

According to him, there are several quite new and radical suggestions in the ICT policy as to how to change the telecoms landscape in SA.

"If it's not broken and works fairly well, why do we want to go and turn it on its head? We're moving to the unknown where we don't know what the policy resolves and what its impact will be on the market.

"It could turn out to be pretty disastrous, or it can turn out to be fine. It could turn out to be a leader in the world, but that is highly unlikely because it hasn't been seen in other markets."

Last year, the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS) published the long-awaited ICT policy white paper, which later received the stamp of approval from Cabinet.

Although the completion of the policy was initially welcomed, on further inspection it was revealed it proposes key changes to the functions of the ICT industry.

Some of the issues that have raised warning signs include the replacement or dissolution of statutory bodies, government playing a key role in decisions in the ICT sector, spectrum licence implications, as well as the wireless access network operator.

The ICT white paper has the potential to turn the telecoms industry on its head, says Africa Analysis MD Dobek Pater.
The ICT white paper has the potential to turn the telecoms industry on its head, says Africa Analysis MD Dobek Pater.

Pater noted the policy is quite wide, with a specific focus on telecoms, and there are other elements which are not necessarily bad but there are some aspects that raise concerns.

A lot of the key aspects in the ICT policy are not new, as these have been around for quite a while and were introduced with the Electronics Communications Act years ago; however, they were never implemented, he stated.

"Overall, the drive and direction of the ICT white paper is that the DTPS will automatically wield more power over the telecoms sector from a regulatory and oversight than they do currently.

"It's a move that is going against the grain of where we've been going and trying to go over the last number of years and where most of the world is going in trying to liberalise the telecoms sector."

To view Africa Analysis's complete analysis of the ICT white paper, click here.

Make or break

Speaking at the same media briefing, FMF executive director Leon Louw noted government needs to consider the social and economic impact such policy will have on the country's telecoms sector.

According to Louw, the FMF is concerned about government intervention in the process of spectrum allocation.

"We need to allocate spectrum which we have not done and we will not have that in the future if it is not auctioned. Every significant economy auctions spectrum for the very simple reason that it's the best way to allocate scarce resources.

"The one thing you want to do is to make sure you have a policy that ensures an industry moves ahead and isn't left behind."

Louw also noted SA needs a policy that makes entry easy for small and big business, doesn't discriminate between them and makes competition vigorous.

The FMF is concerned about the constitutionality of the ICT policy, he stated.

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