<b>Please see below for response received from Vincent Gore of the DA...</b>
Dear myadsl forum members,
Allow me to begin by congratulating you on the myadsl initiative. It is through collective efforts such as these that pressure can be bring meaningful change.
In response to your queries;
1. What is the DA's stance on the ICASA ruling.
Please find our press statement on the matter; While this may be bad news for all those who were anxious to see the SNO take shape, let us all remember that this is a process. Remember, the SNO is going to be an important component of our economy for the very long term. It has to happen correctly the first time. This issue is a very difficult and challenging one. It goes much deeper than simple competition. On the one hand, we want competition to reduce prices, but on the other hand, the country cannot afford a competitor that cannot compete effectively with Telkom. If it takes another year to find a competitor or to reshape the existing bids, then so be it. At this stage we have to try to understand ICASA's point of view. The matter will now be handed over to our Minister of Communications. She has a number of options. She can still award the 51% SEP. She can award the lisence without the 51% SEP; ie. to Esitel, Transtel and Nexus, or she can re-start the process again for the SEP. The DA's recommednation is to allow the existing 49% shareholders get on with providing competition to Telkom; albeit at a reduced level.
2. What are you going to do about it on behalf of the electorate that have been cheated yet again?
The DA has always fought extremely hard for more competition to Telkom. Where myadsl is looking just at ADSL for a short period, the DA has been campaigning for liberilisation of the market for 9 years. The current pitfalls expereinced in the licensing process are excatly the ones we warned the ANC about in Sep 2001. One of the major DAs victories in the recent months, is the final acceptance by government that convergance (and by implicaion competition) is a reality. As far back as the Telecoms Amendment Act (2001) the DA has vigourously campaigned for a rewrite of the legislation and the market structure of telecoms and broadcasting. The recent Convergance Colloquim and the much anticipated Convergance Legisaltion is a vindication of our positions. The DA will continue to put pressure on the ANC-led government to see the light, and make the neccessary changes, so that the ICT sector in South Africa can become a real economic driver of economy, delivering real services to all of our people at an affordable rate with quality of service.
STATEMENT BY DENE SMUTS MP
DA SPOKESPERSON ON COMMUNICATIONS
SNO - ICASA'S RECOMMENDATION PREDICTABLE
Release, immediate: Thursday, 28 August 2003
Icasa's recommendation that the Minister of Communications should not agree to license either bidder for the 51 % stake in the second network operator was anticipated, in view of the fact that the bidders lack significant cash.
The government has now run out of options and will have to allow Transtel, Esitel and the 19% BEE partner, Nexus, to start operating on their own. We warned when the Telecoms Act was amended in 2001 that the State was expanding its role instead of encouraging open competition. Licences were lavished on parastatals instead of allowing players to form consortiums on their own.
The State now has a stake in both Telkom and its competition. This can only increase the danger of collusion on tariffs.
However, the picture is not as gloomy as it was the last time the bidders were dismissed. The minister has decisively embarked on the legislative overhaul to accommodate converged technologies for which we have long argued, and of which the government lost sight. The necessary implication of such convergence law is the opening up of the sector to greater and varied forms of competition.
The telecoms landscape will change beyond recognition.
This is one of the reasons why we would accept the licensing of Transtel, Esitel and Nexus.
<b>End repsonse</b>
