Parliament`s National Assembly will have its first opportunity to discuss the controversial Telecommunications Amendment Bill on Thursday, after the Portfolio Committee on Communications wrapped up its work on the legislation last week.
The Bill is expected to pass through Parliament before the current session ends in mid-November.
The last-minute changes the Portfolio Committee made to the Bill have been described as an abdication of responsibility. The final draft of the document sets no deadlines for the introduction of carrier pre-select or number portability, but leaves the decision up to government.
The lack of such mechanisms to ensure effective competition has renewed doubts as to the viability of the second national operator (SNO).
"M-Cell`s decision on whether to participate in the SNO will only be taken once the ITA [invitation to apply] has been issued and the business opportunities can be fully evaluated," said M-Cell commercial director Irene Charnley in a statement. "However, the recent policy developments leave us more concerned about whether the environment created would enable a viable SNO."
M-Cell is the only private-sector company which has expressed interest in participating in the SNO to date.
In contrast, Transnet subsidiary Transtel has expressed its enthusiasm for the licence. According to the Bill, both Transtel and Esi-Tel, the Eskom subsidiary, will have equity participation in the SNO at levels set by government. Transtel says the broad framework for competition is in place and that the final version is an improvement over the original.
Yet the company shares the concerns of M-Cell.
"We intend to engage government on some of the issues removed, particularly carrier pre-select from May 2003, but, to paraphrase Mark Twain, any 'rumours of the death of the SNO have been greatly exaggerated`," said Transtel CEO Karl Socikwa in a statement.
Fixed mobile
Also still a sore point is the concept of fixed-mobile access which is to be granted to Telkom and the SNO.
The issue was first raised in the intended policy directions the Department of Communications published in March. The department said the intention was to allow Telkom and the SNO to use GSM technology to form wireless local loops to remove the need for expensive physical last-mile infrastructure.
But cellular operators say the final version of the Bill allows fixed-line operators to operate what is in essence a limited cellular service.
The new definition, says MTN, "has the impact of permitting call handover from cell to cell within local exchange areas, instead of limiting mobility to one cell and under-serviced areas".
Defining the geographic area that qualifies at a local exchange is to be the responsibility of the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA), but MTN has doubts as to the ability of the regulator.
"It will be impossible for ICASA to police the areas within which fixed mobile licensees would be able to operate because ratio transmission cannot be confined to a particular geographic area," the company says. "This could result in unnecessary and wasteful utilisation of the authority`s resources."
Cell C argues that any geographic area for fixed-wireless must be defined as under-serviced areas only, to prevent the misuse of the leeway granted fixed-line operators.
The National Assembly is generally expected to pass the Bill nearly unchanged.
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