Who will take on Telkom?
ICASA has recently released an update on its license conversion process and conversion matrixes for both existing telecommunication providers and Value Added Network Services providers.
“The standard terms and conditions applicable to individual and class licences have been finalised in Government Gazettes No. 30530 and No. 30512 respectively. The licence exemption regulations will be finalised in January 2008,” ICASA said.
“The licence fees regulations will be finalised once the Authority has completed all the necessary consultations and required research. The finalisation of the licence fees regulations will then allow the Authority to proceed with publication of the finalized procedures and process regulations.”
ICASA further said that it is currently drafting the specific terms and conditions applicable to individual licensees. Once they have been drafted they will be sent to those who are entitled to an individual licence for comment, before they are published for public comment and input.
Network providers
The most sought after licenses in the new local telecoms licensing regime are individual ECS and ECNS licenses which allow companies to build networks and provide services countrywide.
These licenses will give a company the same rights as Telkom or Neotel which will hopefully usher in true competition in the local telecoms space.
Initially many players, including some ISPs like Internet Solutions, DataPro and Verizon Business were up for consideration for both individual ECS and ECNS licenses.
This has however changed with fewer individual ECNS licenses to be awarded and hence less initial competition in the network provisioning market.
The companies earmarked for individual ECS and ECNS licenses are Sentech, Telkom, Neotel, Cell C, Vodacom, MTN and Wireless Business Solutions (WBS aka iBurst).
Specialized communications providers Fleetcall, Q-Trunk, Orbicom and Telkom subsidiary Swiftnet will also most probably receive individual ECNS licenses but it is unlikely that they will start to play in the more traditional telecoms market.
VANS
Initially many first tier ISPs, including Verizon South Africa, DataPro (aka Vox Telecom), Internet Solutions and MWEB, were under consideration for an individual ECNS license.
This has however changed, and ICASA said that it has decided that VANS will ‘in the first instance’ be converted to ECS and that a competitive process will be followed in respect of granting VANS the right to acquire ECNS as per the Ministerial Directive. An Invitation to Apply (ITA) will be issued in January 2008.
Questions have been raised about the processes which were followed regarding the potential conversion of certain VANS licenses to individual ECNS licenses, and this may result in legal action from unhappy parties.
The inclusion of Global Webintact as the only Wireless Internet Service Provider in the list of VANS to be considered for an individual ECNS license also raised a few eyebrows.
The delay in awarding individual ECNS licenses to larger ISPs may also signal a delay in the awarding of the long awaited WiMax spectrum. While the two licensing processes are not officially dependant on each other, it will make sense to first establish who will have network provisioning rights before allocating spectrum to these companies.
These delays may come as an unpleasant development to companies like MWEB and Internet Solutions who have already invested millions in their own WiMax trials and are only waiting for ICASA’s stamp of approval in terms of licensing and spectrum to commercially roll out services.
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