Monopoly we love to hate left to force changes in ICT sector
During the drafting of the charter, the steering committee said it would be aligned to the department of trade and industry empowerment codes. But these were finalised six months ago and there is still no indication when the charter will be gazetted.
In the absence of a final charter, it seems to have been left up to Telkom, the telecoms monopoly that we all love to hate, to force transformation in this vital sector.
Telkom, blamed for wrongdoing because of predatory pricing policies, might turn out to be a hero, although not to those multinationals resisting selling equity to black people.
It appears that Telkom is actively pushing effective change in the ICT sector, which, for obvious reasons, is dominated by multinationals.
Telkom is said to have threatened not to renew contracts of international suppliers unless they sell equity and abide by black economic empowerment (BEE) requirements such as procurement and black management participation. Multinationals such as IBM, Microsoft, Cisco and Marpless tend to prefer “equity equivalent” deals such as skills development, rather than selling equity. This is an expensive way of meeting BEE requirements, but it does keep ownership in one place.
Those who have sold equity include T-Systems, SAP, Unisys and Fujitsu Siemens. Hewlett-Packard is expected to announce long-awaited BEE plans on Monday. While it will be interesting to see what they come up with, don’t expect anything dramatic.
It is easy to stand on the sidelines and criticise ICT multinationals for not throwing their weight behind the full transformation of this economy. But we must recognise that, especially in the technology arena, protection of intellectual capital and relationships with operations in other parts of the world make selling local equity a difficult task.
We must recognise that without world-class technology, any effort to compete in another economic arena will fail. These firms make a huge contribution to the local economy.
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