Lisa Thornton Inc

On 15 Feb 2010, ICASA published final Digital Migration Regulations following an aborted attempt to finalise the regulations in July 2009.  ICASA considered the Broadcasting Digital Migration Policy published by the Minister in Sept 2008, although it did not follow it completely.

The publication of the Digital Migration Regulations was accompanied by a Reasons Document on Digital Migration, detailing the process and ICASA’s reasoning. 

Back in 2008 when the Minister published the Digital Mig...
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ICASA is absolutely right. It may agree to contractual terms that limit its statutory obligation to regulate interconnection.  It legally cannot do so, and as a matter of policy, should not do so.  Well done!
But is this stopping the three mobile cellular licensees from reducing interconnection rates?  Absolutely not.  Under the EC Act, ICASA must make regulations and after that, all interconnection agreements must be vetted by it to make sure they comply with the regulations.  However, no reg...
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The compliance division of ICASA has sent out letters to (some of) those licensees who had their licences converted to ECNS and ECS licences in January 2009, requesting proof that the licences are being used.  The Standard Terms and Conditions regulations require that operations must have begun, depending on the type of licence, within six to twelve months from the date the licence was issued.
Wow.  Of all the things ICASA could be doing to effectively regulate the industry, it is initiating a...
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ICASA's discussion document on ownership and control can be found here.  Comments are due 19 Feb 2010.

ICASA states that the result of the process in respect of broadcasting services is a recommendation to the Minister to alter the limitations on control provisions set out in the EC Act.  You might recall that ICASA went through this same exercise in 2004 prior to the enactment of the EC Act.  It's recommendations were set out in a Position Paper on the Review of Ownership and Control of Broad...
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ICASA recently published a discussion document on ownership and control for public comment.  You can download a copy here.

The issue is discussed separately for broadcasting services on the one hand, and electronic communications services on the other.  ICASA has indicated that the result of this consultation process in respect of broadcasting services is a recommendation to the Minister to alter the limitations on control provisions set out in the EC Act.  In respect of electronic communicati...
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ICASA published another set of draft facilities leasing regulations for public comment.  You can download a copy here.

In case you were wondering - yes, you have seen draft facilities leasing regulations before, not once, but twice, since the coming into force of the EC Act.

ICASA published draft facilities leasing regulations in Government Gazette 30091 dated 24 July 2007. Those draft regulations were pretty good, eliminating most of the problems with the existing regulations, which had been p...
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In 2009, the Altech litigation concluded, resulting in the licensing by ICASA of hundreds of potential competitors to the dominant incumbents, Telkom, Vodacom and MTN. 

Real competitiveness however relies on more than new licences.  It requires an effective legislative and regulatory framework, among other things.  I would like to take the opportunity of the year end to offer my thoughts on some regulatory priorities for 2010. 

Key aspects of an effective regulatory framework include effectiv...
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Wow, what a lot of noise about call termination rates!

Don't get me wrong, this noise is far better than the almost complete silence on the matter for the past decade.  My optimism says the mobile providers will reduce their call termination rates in accordance with the agreement announced by the Minister today.  Even greater optimism says that this will translate into a reduction in retail rates. 

However, this will not solve the real problems that exist.  ICASA needs to be able to regulate e...
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Lisa Thornton Inc welcomes the new Minister of Communications, Mr Siphiwe Nyanda and the new Deputy Minister, Dina Pule. 

The ANC's main election promise was to provide services to those that had up to now, been left out, including education, health care and housing.  Electronic communications is increasingly being seen as an essential service, much like water and electricity.  Although South Africa has not succeeded in providing universal service to electronic communications, the opportunity...
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