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Policy Direction on call termination (withdrawn)

Update: the policy direction was deemed irrelevant as a result of a “voluntary agreement” to reduce termination rates in November 2009. Withdrawal Notice: Mobile Termination Rate Policy Direction.

The mobile termination rate reduction three ring circus continues with the latest salvo from the Department of Communications arriving in the form of an explicit Policy Direction to be issued to ICASA.

Policy Direction on Mobile Termination Rates 20091013.

The policy is open for public comment until 23 November 2009.

After this the DoC will need to publish a final policy direction and it should at least make some kind of show of actually considering the submissions made to it otherwise the public participation process will be completely farcical.

All of which leaves very little time for ICASA to publish regulations and for the necessary billing and other changes to be effected by those in the firing line.

Minister seeks to restrict Broadband Infraco to an ECNS licence

The political wrangling over the future role of Broadband Infraco – the State-owned Entity (SoE) set up to faciliate the lowering of the costs of communication in South Africa – continues apace. The Minister of Communication has acted quickly on his statement to Parliament that Infraco should not have an ECS licence by publishing draft amendments to the Policy Direction issued by the previous minister as regards the licensing of the entity.

Draft Amendment of the Policy Direction on the Licensing of Broadband Infraco 20091013

The proposed amendments are open for comment until 24 November 2009.

If you want to look at the original policy direction and the history of this matter – http://www.ellipsis.co.za/index.php?s=Infraco.

comment: hard not to have a quiet giggle really – electronic communications in SA is certainly rapidly taking on soap opera characteristics. The net effect of the proposed amendments is to take away the ability of Infraco to compete with other service providers in the retail market – they will be restricted to making capacity available on their network for other licensees to use. It will, in other words, have no direct dealings with the public.

This is probably the right result. No doubt there are some extremely unhappy faces in the Infraco boardroom and rumours of an attempt to fight the DoC on this one are beginning to surface. Meanwhile, nearly 3 years after it was initially mooted, the new SoE still does not have any licensing.

Pass the popcorn please.

Draft National Broadband Policy

The Department of Communications appears to have woken from its long slumber and decided to attempt to play a meaningful and constructive role in developing ICT policy in South Africa.

One of a number of draft policy documents to emerge from the Department in the last three weeks is a Draft National Broadband Policy, which has been released for public comment.

We have prepared an Overview Draft National Broadband Policy September 2009 to help you get to grips with what is potentially an extremely important document.

Comments are due by no later than 17 October 2009.

ISPA Submission Draft National Broadband Policy 20091019

PUSANOs no more

The Minister of Communications has issued a notice detailing his intention to amend a policy direction published by his predecessor in terms of which the consolidation of Under Serviced Area Licensees (USALs) into Provincial Under Serviced Area Network Operators (PUSANOs) was required. The effect of the proposed amendment will be to delete the portion relating to PUSANOs.

The original policy direction:
DoC Policy Directions 17 September 2007

The intended amendment:
Notice of Amendment with regard to PUSANOs 19 August 2009

The proposed amendment is open for comment until 1 October 2009.

comment: the initiative relating to USALs is a failed initiative which needs to be consigned to the history books and this amendment is welcome in that it at least recognises that (a) there are hardly any viable USALs left and (b) the advent of the new licensing framework under the ECA has dramatically changed the service licensing landscape and the advantages previously enjoyed by the USALs in terms of infrastructure rights no longer have any relevance.

Policy Direction – Licensing of Broadband Infraco

The Minister of Communications has published a draft Policy Directive in terms of section 3(5) of the Electronic Communications Act relating to the licensing framework of Broadband Infraco (Pty) Ltd.

This document is open for comment until 10 December 2008.

Download the Policy Direction on the licensing framework of Broadband Infraco (Pty) Ltd 20081029


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