SNO expected before 2005/06 year end: report
In its annual report tabled in Parliament on Thursday – presented by Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri and director general Lyndall Shope-Mafole – the department says that "the process of licensing of the second national operator to provide public switched telecommunication services and competition to the existing monopoly was initiated in 2002".
However, it says "significant progress has been made and it is expected that the entity will launch its services before the end of 2005/06 financial year".
Recently, Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) councillor Lumko Mtimde told I-Net Bridge that the organisation hoped that the SNO – which will compete with the semi-privatised Telkom – would be licensed "as speedily as possible".
The SNO is controlled by the Tata Group of India which holds 26%. Its shareholder base includes Nexus Connexion, Two Consortium, CommuniTel and State-held entities Transtel and Esitel which are Transtel’s and Eskom’s telecommunications arms.
Mtimde – who chairs the SNO committee – acknowledged that the regulator had received all signed documents, including the business plan, and added that the authority was now conducting the regulatory analysis ahead of the issuing of the licence.
He declined to say when the regulator expected to issue the public switched telecommunications services (PSTS) to the SNO.
INet-Bridge
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