Regulations regarding certain procedures for ICASA inspectors
ICASA has published final regulations setting out the procedures to be followed where ICASA inspectors are of the view that a licensee is engaged in conduct which is in contravention of the Electronic Communications Act.
ICASA Regulations on certain procedures for ICASA inspectors 2010
This follows the publication of draft regulations in October 2009.
ICASA Amendment Bill 2010After years of talking about it, the Department of Communications has secured the approval of Cabinet to a Bill to amend the ICASA Act. It is anticipated that the ICASA Amendment Bill 2010 will shortly be introduced into Parliament and thereafter released for public comment.
“The main purpose of the Bill is to amend the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa Act, 2000 (the Act), so as to change the position of Chief Executive Officer to Chief Operations Officer and to clearly differentiate between the functions of the Council and the Chief Operations Officer. The turn-around times of some of the responsibilities of the Authority are improved. A Tariff Advisory Council is created. The functioning of the Complaints and Compliance Committee is revised to improve the turnaround times for resolution of complaints and its effectiveness.”
Comments are due by 6 August 2010. The Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications has indicated, however, that it is unlikely that the Bill will be dealt with this year,
New standard terms and conditions and process regs for class and individual licencesA process to amend
- Standard terms and conditions for individual licences
- Standard terms and conditions for class licences
- Process and procedure regulations
was initiated by ICASA in July 2009 and the finalised amendments were published on 14 June 2010 (draft documents).
Standard Terms and Conditions for Individual Licences Regulations 2010
Licensing Process and Procedure Regulations Individual Licences 2010
Standard Terms and Conditions for Class Licences Regulations 2010
Licensing Process and Procedure Regulations Class Licences 2010
There is also a handy Reasons Document which explains why amendments were made (and why certain proposed amendments were not made).
Reasons Document Amendments to Standard Terms and Conditions and Process and Procedure Regulations
The Amendments will come into force on a date to be gazetted.
In general common sense seems to have prevailed:
- The term of an IECS licence has been standardised with that for IECNS licences at 20 years.
- The lead time for the filing of tariffs prior to putting them into service has been kept at 7 working days and not increased to 21 working days as ICASA proposed.
- “The Authority concurs with ISPA that person who intend to provide ancillary services or operate small electronic communications networks need not notify the Authority”. Previously the law had actually required that the thousands of Local Area Networks (LANs) and Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs) be registered with it as licence exempt!
- They have brought some clarity to the distinction between notifications and amendments. A new Form O has been provided for notifications in respect of individual licences.
- They have cleaned up some of the mess around notifying exempts and temporary authorisations.
- “The Authority has decided to retain the term “end-user” as it is defined in the Act and extends to persons who use the service of a licensee. The Authority is of the view that the word ”public” [which ICASA wanted to use] is inconsistent with the Act and the word “subscriber” is limiting because it does not allow for remedies in relation to transactions between licensees.”
In January 2010 ICASA sent letters to all licensees requesting that they provide information showing that they had commenced providing services under their electronic communications network services and/or electronic communications services licences.
They have now published a Gazette indicating those who
- responded and are regarded as compliant
- responded but did not provide all required information (non-compliant)
- did not respond (non-compliant)
- requested and have been granted an exemption.
The list has its difficulties, i.e. the database certainly does need auditing.
Holders of electronic communications licences should check the Gazette and ascertain their status. (Note that it may be a good idea to read through the entire list of licensees as some names appear twice).
If you are regarded as compliant then just check that the contact details listed are correct (and take this opportunity to check that the details on your licence are also correct). If necessary write to the ICASA contacts set out in the Gazette to correct the error before 2 July 2010.
If you are regarded as non-compliant then you need to take corrective measures and provide the information set out in the Gazette by 2 July 2010.
If you have been granted an exemption then ICASA will no doubt be in touch next January to enquire as to how you are doing. Remember that there is no provision in the Electronic Communications Act for another extension to be granted.
ICASA Interconnection Regulations 2010Some five years after the enactment of the Electronic Communications Act (ECA), ICASA have managed to produce a set of framework interconnection regulations.
ICASA Interconnect Regulations 2010
Effective date: 30 June 2010.
Comment:
It is noteworthy that these regulations represent a bare minimum regulatory intervention which evidences ICASA’s desire to avoid any form of legal challenge. While clarification on the basic right to interconnect and the imposition of certain time lines is welcomed, it remains disappointing that many of the provisions present in previous drafts have been deleted or watered down in the process of removing anything vaguely controversial.
The net result is that what should be a fundamental regulatory spur to greater competition in the electronic communications industry will have very little impact.
New security features for ICASA licence certificatesICASA is attempting to combat fraud and impersonation of its inspectors through the introduction of new security features in frequency licence and radio dealer certificates. The new measures will also be applied to type approval certificates and ICASA inspector cards (which are required to be carried at all times by ICASA inspectors).
Notice to Frequency Spectrum Licensees of New Security Features for ICASA Licence Certificates
Accept no substitutes… .
Call Termination QuestionnaireIn its continuing (and extraordinarily lengthy) efforts to regulate the cost of call termination in South Africa, ICASA has sent out a Call Termination Questionnaire to all licence-holders, requesting that they provide the information required by no later than 20 November 2009.
The purpose of the Questionnaire is to inform the market study into call termination which ICASA is required by the ECA to use as the basis for taking pro-competitive action to regulate pricing under Chapter 10 of the Act.
ICASA Call Termination Questionnaire October 2009 (Excel)
Guideline for completing Questionnaire on Call Termination (October 2009)
Everyone who is required to submit the Questionnaire is requested to ensure that it is sent in on or before the 20th November – we cannot afford any more delays.
ICASA Annual Report 2009Want to know what ICASA has or has not been up to over the past year?
Draft Regulations for ICASA InspectorsICASA has released Draft Regulations concerning Procedures for ICASA Inspectors for comment. Given the ad hoc procedures currently employed, some form of formalised procedure is most welcome.
ICASA Draft Regulations concerning Procedures for ICASA Inspectors
Comments are due by 27 November 2009.
ICASA Business Plans 2009 – 2010Interesting documents if you want to get an overview of what the communications regulator is planning to get up to over the next year or so. These plans should, however, be regarded as “fluid” documents and not as a basis for the making of definite decisions.
All of the below are excel spreadsheets as publicly released by ICASA:
Business Plan 2009-2010 ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY v090521_1
Business Plan 2009-2010 HUMAN RESOURCES v090521_1
Business Plan 2009-2010 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY v090521_1
Business Plan 2009-2010 REGIONS v090611
Business Plan 2009-2012 ADMIN SUPPORT SERVICES v090521_1
Business Plan 2009-2012 COMMUNICATIONS v090521_1-1
Business Plan 2009-2012 COMPLIANCE RISK & AUDIT v090527-1
Business Plan 2009-2012 CONSUMER AFFAIRS v090521_1
Business Plan 2009-2010 Finance
Business Plan 2009-2010 Legal & CCC
Business Plan 2009-2010 Markets & Competition
Business Plan 2009-2010 Licensing & Compliance
-
access
Altech
Broadband Infraco licensing
class licence registrations and applications
competition
Department of Communications
draft regulations
ECA
ECNS
ECS
existing Licenses
final regulations
frequency
ICASA
IECNS
individual licence applications
legislation
licence conversion
licence exempt
Licence exemption application
licensing
numbers
Open for comment
policy
self-provision
standard terms and conditions
Telecommunications Act
universal Access
universal service
VANS
This site and the content on it is intended to facilitate greater understanding of the regulation of electronic communications in South Africa. Content does not, obviously, constitute legal advice. If it did there would probably be an invoice attached. Please use the site to become better informed and save yourself some money if and when you do need to consult a suitably qualified advisor.
Contact