The public enterprises department received a tongue-lashing from a parliamentary committee chairman yesterday for tabling the controversial Broadband Infraco Bill when a simpler, more acceptable legal solution was available.<\/p>\n
Public enterprises committee chairman Yunus Carrim said it was \u201cunacceptable\u201d and \u201cbefuddling\u201d that the department had tabled a bill that was so problematic and about which there had been so little consultation, as this meant a \u201cserious waste of time\u201d for the committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe executive has failed,\u201d he said, as it was obliged to consult stakeholders and civil society fully on proposed legislation, \u201cnot least within the executive\u201d.<\/p>\n
Carrim said the committee would have to finalise the bill before September 14, when it was due to be debated in the National Assembly, if it was to be adopted by Parliament this year. Time is an issue as the second national operator can start operating only once Infraco is established.<\/p>\n
After lengthy and in-depth deliberations, the committee and stakeholders achieved consensus over an alternative to the bill\u2019s controversial provision to provide the envisaged state-owned broadband wholesale company, Infraco, with a \u201cdeemed\u201d licence.<\/p>\n
The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) and other players all claimed that a \u201cdeemed\u201d licence would be unconstitutional and beyond the scope of the Electronic Communications Act, which provides only for the regulator to issue licences through an open, competitive process.<\/p>\n
The alternative agreed upon is an amendment to the act to allow Icasa to issue a licence to a state-owned enterprise without the obligation to issue an open invitation to apply to the public.<\/p>\n
While awaiting a licence, Infraco would piggy-back as a subcontractor on to the telecommunications licence of second national operator Neotel and provide it exclusively with bulk broadband infrastructure for about two years, or until it received its licence from Icasa.<\/p>\n
Carrim said the solution of an Electronic Communications Act amendment and Infraco\u2019s temporary use of Neotel\u2019s licence, to which all stakeholders had agreed, was a simple one that the department should have thought about.<\/p>\n