Who we are

Ellipsis was established in 2007 as a provider of specialised legal advice and services to the telecommunications, broadcasting and related industries.

Overview | Professionals | Ellipsis group company profiles | People we like to work with | Services | Who trusts us?

Electronic communications law is a blend of law, economics, engineering and policy, which is complicated by the rapid pace of change in information and communication technology, creating significant challenges for industry players. The central feature of the services provided by Ellipsis is the demystification of a complex area of law and technology and its distillation into simple, practical advice.

Ellipsis is involved in all stages of the communications law and regulation-making process on an ongoing basis, and liaises closely with, inter alia, the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT), the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DOJCD), law enforcement agencies, the Film and Publications Board (FPB) and other government entities.

Over time, Ellipsis has evolved into a group of affiliated companies that each specialises in catering to the needs of customers and industry associations in the ICT and Telecommunications industries.

A link to our company profile can be downloaded here.

Dominic Cull

Dominic has extensive experience in advising on the commercial and regulatory aspects of new technology, broadcasting, and electronic communications ventures for local and international companies and policy and regulation in the ICT and telecommunications sectors, having spent 20 years advising the public and private sector on ICT legal issues.

Dominic is involved at all stages of the communications law and regulation-making process and liaises closely with, inter alia, the Independant Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA), the Department of Communications and Digital Technoligies (DCDT), the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, SAPS Cybercrime Division, National Gambling Board and the Film and Publications Board on an ongoing basis.

Clients include multinationals and industry associations with extensive contributions to the development of policy and laws at national and local government level in the area of electronic communications and infrastructure deployment.

Dominic holds a B.Bus.Sci, an LLB, and an LLM in Information Communication Technology.

Sumaiyah Makda

Sumaiyah has extensive experience in advising on the commercial and regulatory aspects of providing ICT and telecommunications services in South Africa which fall under the Electronic Communications Act.

This includes advising and assisting local and international clients with transfers of Individual and Class licences, as well as all other aspects of licensing – registrations, notifications, amendments, surrenders, renewals, as well as applications and transfers of numbers.

Sumaiyah also has a focus on regulatory compliance for South African licensees, including the financial reporting compliance obligations. She liaises closely with ICASA in this regard, to ensure that she keeps current with the ever-changing regulatory landscape. Sumaiyah handles the ICASA regulatory compliance obligations for several clients, including locally-owned and foreign-owned licensees. She is also skilled at representations before the ICASA Complaints and Compliance Committee, having appeared on behalf of several companies.

Sumaiyah holds an LLB, a Postgraduate Diploma in Cyber Law, an LLM in Information Communication Technology and is a Notary Public.

Rolf Blom

Rolf advises both local and international clients on the licensing of internet service providers, fibre optic (land-based and submarine), terrestrial wireless and satellite network operators, radio frequency spectrum licensing (terrestrial and satellite), service provider ownership structures, the planning of various transactions and agreements.

Rolf also has extensive experience with certification of telecommunications equipment and various new technologies and assists both local and international clients in obtaining type approval/homologation for consumer and industrial electronic, fibre optic, free space optical and satellite (SNG, VSAT, gateway) equipment.

Rolf holds an LLB and is an admitted attorney.

Anton Kotze

Anton’s experience of practising law and being involved in the management of large and start-up ISP businesses gives him a unique blend of telecommunications law and general commercial experience that allows him to understand his clients’ requirements and to apply the law to such requirements with a pragmatic approach.

Anton holds an LLB.

Simoné Warber

Simoné’s experience as a litigation attorney, High Court appearances and eye for detail give her a unique aptitude for contract drafting, negotiation and vetting. Simoné joined Ellipsis in 2018 and has since acquired invaluable telecommunications law experience. This, together with her commercial and litigation experience, enables her to accurately cater to the contracting requirements of various telecommunications-related companies and situations.

Simoné holds an LLB.

Vanessa Manson

Vanessa’s professional background is rooted in litigation and commercial law. She expanded her knowledge and expertise in these and other areas while working as corporate in-house legal counsel. Her experience extends across a variety of business industries, including retail, distribution, franchising, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, software development, digital commerce, and telecommunications. Consequently, she is proficient in negotiating and drafting contracts in a variety of different regulatory areas. Vanessa has also fulfilled the role of company secretary, overseeing the corporate governance of several organisations. The totality of her legal and corporate experience enables Vanessa to manoeuvre within the framework of the law to ensure that her client’s businesses are legally compliant while remaining commercially relevant and accessible.

Vanessa holds an LLB and is an admitted attorney.

Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions

Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions’ core focus is to help licensees to navigate the complex maze of regulatory applications, procedures and reporting requirements which are a consequence of holding licences issued by ICASA.

ERS services include:

• Licence applications, registrations and acquisitions;
• Advice on spectrum licensing and usage;
• Advice on numbering and usage;
• Type approval applications;
• Provision of advice and opinions on regulatory and electronic communications licensing issues;
• Identification of applicable statutes and regulations and their application to your business;
• Regulatory compliance services, including financial and other compliance reporting;
• Compliance with Films and Publications Board requirements;
• Assistance with interconnection and facilities leasing requests;
• Assistance with responses to matters referred to the Complaints and Compliance Committee (ICASA-CCC); and
• Representation in hearings before the ICASA-CCC Panel.

Ellipsis Consulting

Ellipsis Consulting provides specialist advisory and consulting services, including:

• Advice on all legal and regulatory aspects of fibre network deployment and commercialisation of fibre networks;
• Advice on spectrum management and policy;
• Provision of advice and opinions on regulatory and electronic communications licensing issues;
• Consulting and advice relating to online content regulation and registration with the Films and Publications Board;
• Consulting and and advice relating to cybercrime and cybersecurity;
• Drafting and negotiating lCT commercial agreements;
• Research;
• Monitoring and updating services; and
• Drafting and the making of representations and submissions to Parliament, ICASA, Government Departments and other bodies.

Ellipsis Management Solutions

Ellipsis Management Solutions is experienced in the formation of industry associations, as well as the management of the general secretariat-related functions of industry associations in the ICT field. With this experience and our comfort with the area of focus of industry associations, we are able to provide guidance in meeting legislative and constitutional requirements allowing volunteer-driven associations to fulfil their management and operation requirements

Ellipsis Management Solutions specialises in the following services:

• Secretariat services, which covers day-to-day operational needs, related administration and communication, internal meetings, reporting requirements and basic accounting;
• Applications for registration as a non-profit entity;
• Drafting of constitutions, policies and related documentation;
• Project management services, which covers planning and implementation;
• PR and Marketing services, which are offered as art additional service and includes strategy, implementation and digital marketing components; and
• Events management services, which includes everything from conceptualising events and all stages of planning and running events, including the identification of suitable speakers and delegates.

Mark Gray

Mark is our hands-on technical-regulatory resource, specialising in voice and ISP services in South Africa, Francophone Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Mark has strong in-country contacts in government and/or the local regulators.  Mark’s focus is on assisting service providers climb the value chain – setting up wholesale accounts, virtual ISP service (selecting the best vendor fit), interconnects, VoIP switches, billing systems, etc.

Mark has seen it all before…

Andrew Marshall

Andrew specialises in commercial law relating to ICT. He is also an adjudicator for several industry bodies, including WASPA. His other specialities include software law and the intellectual property aspects of ICT law.

Andrew recently spent a year in Johannesburg where he assisted with the contract management on several of Accenture’s larger ICT engagements. Andrew obtained a BA LLB at the University of Cape Town and was admitted as an attorney, notary and conveyancer in 1999. He then obtained a Microsoft Certified Solutions Provider qualification and thus armed arrived in London when the dot-com bubble was just about to burst. After some three years as a computer programmer in London, Andrew returned to Cape Town where the law re-captured him, and he specialised in the ICT field. In 2005 Andrew completed an LLM in e-law from the University of Cape Town.

Andrew can be reached at andrew@dingleymarshall.co.za.

Pieter Grootes

Pieter has over twenty year’s experience in public policy, competition, business case development and ICT policy formulation.  He has held positions at the National Treasury, Independent Communications Authority of South Africa, Mott MacDonald and currently runs his own boutique advisory firm (www.networksanonymous.com) providing regulatory and business feasibility advice to equity and debt financiers in the ICT sector.  Whilst at ICASA, he developed the “Guideline for Market Reviews,” the baseline document off which ICASA conducts its market reviews as well as in assessing competition concerns during licence amendment and transfer applications.

Pieter’s specific services include: competition and consumer impact assessments on licence amendments/transfers; due diligence assessments of investment opportunities; economic impact assessment studies, particularly for the ICT sector.  He has provided competition and consumer impact assessment reports for multiple licensees, including Vox Telecom, Zoom Fibre, World Online & Hollywood Bets.

David Johnson

David is a swiss army knife in the field of telecommunications. He has a mix of academic and hands-on experience building community-driven networks in various communities in Zambia and South Africa – including Africa’s first community-owned rural wireless mesh network in Mpumalanga. He has also written and contributed to spectrum and broadband policy in South Africa – his most recent efforts being modelling and writing recommendations for future high demand spectrum for the new Wireless Open Access Network (WOAN) and contributing to the finalised South African TV white space regulation.

In 2012, he completed his PhD at UC Santa Barbara on Internet architectures for rural developing regions. He continues to push the envelope in the area of TV White Space, blockchain, mesh networks, broadband planning, telecommunications policy and decentralised content distribution systems and has published 40 articles in these research areas and published a book on TV White Space.

He is currently a visiting IT Policy Fellow at CITP and working on expansion of white space technology to small cell networks and using blockchain concepts for incentivized expansion of wireless networks in underserved communities. He is also an adjunct senior lecturer in the Computer Science Department at UCT and supervises a number of PhD students in the ICT4D lab. He previously worked as a principal researcher in the Networks and Media group at the CSIR Meraka Institute.

Linden Petzer

Linden has over 30 years experience in spectrum management and regulatory affairs.

From September 2008 to March 2019 he was the Chief Director: Radio and Satellite Communication at the Department of Telecommunications & Postal Services where he was responsible for national policy that ensures the effective deployment of radio and satellite-based technologies in South Africa.

In 2010, he was appointed as a Councillor in the South African Council for Space Affairs, which is responsible for the implementation of national space policy and the regulation of space affairs in South Africa, as well as ensuring that these activities are carried out in compliance with the provisions of international treaties to which South Africa is a Party.

He has been a member of the South African delegation to all ITU World Radiocommunication Conferences since 1995, and has been the South African National rapporteur for Satellite Issues at two ITU World Radiocommunication Conferences.

In 2018 he was appointed as Chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Satellite Expert Committee tasked with the development of the Regional Space Programme Framework for a shared satellite system for the SADC Region.
Linden has been responsible for the development of a paper on a “Simplified Regulatory Regime for non-GSO Satellites with Short-duration Missions within ITU-R Working Party 4A.

He is currently the Chair of the South African Bureau of Standards National Technical Committee for Communication Technology.

Services incorporate all aspects of electronic communications law and regulation, including the provision of advice and opinions on regulatory and electronic communications licensing issues and the making of representations and submissions to ICASA and other bodies.

Further information can be found at the following link.

Ellipsis represents more than 350 South Africa licensees either directly or indirectly through industry associations.

We act as regulatory advisors to the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA), the Wireless Access Providers’ Association (WAPA) and the Wireless Application Service Providers’ (WASPA) while also providing services to the FTTH Council Africa and the Wi-Fi Forum of South Africa.

Major international clients include Google, Inmarsat, the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC), Liquid Telecom, Orange, Lycamobile and Indigo Telecom.

Local clients include the Tertiary Education and Research Network of South Africa (TENET), Vox Telecommunications, EOH Mthombo, Vumatel, Multisource, Link Africa, Century City Connect, University of Cape Town, Rabie Properties, American Tower Corporation (ATC), BitCo, MetroFibre, Networx, Afrihst, SMS Portal and Clickatell.