Question time
1. Dene Smuts: PPCC is very aware of effects of high cost of bandwidth and the ECA is designed to address this – according to her it contains a clear and unambiguous method fro bringing down bandwidth prices. This is essentially through designation of licencees as having “significant market power” after ICASA has completed the necessary market study. This will lead to wholesale and retail price controls and it is “urgently necessary” to address this.
She continued that the ECA had been written against the background of the policy failures, i.e. it was drafted the way it was because of the failures around the SNO and USALs, amongst other failures. Sees that there will be results from the SNO and now the TNO but expects real moves to come fm ISPs and municipalities.
“Let me be clear. There is nothing under law that prevents a Municipality from become a fully fledged telecommunications company”. This is the position in law although there may be cogent business reasons militating against municipalities doing this.
Under the ECA open to municipalities to register ”as of right” as providers of network and communication services.
MP Smuts was “astounded” that Telkom were raising a section 41 argument. “This is not even an argument anymore – cities can do this as of right”.
She had a full vent at Telkom saying that they were holding the country back and that the Telecommunications Act was history and no longer relevant.
With regard to local loop unbundling (LLU) she said that under the ECA the regulator has to explicitly list essential facilities and renew this every 36 months. This includes LL facilities which must then be dealt with under facilities leasing and competition regulation provisions.
2. Next question (could not determine who asked) regarded transformation on the part of service providers and municipalities.
3. Another MP criticized Telkom for the lack of transparency in its high pricing. He said that the latest reductions were “too little, too late” and that it was a pity that Telkom did not feel that it could clearly articulate what the current level of their pricing was, i.e. in their address they did not speak to pricing at all.
4. Vincent Gore (ID); very to the point questions – was disappointed that Uninet and Telkom were not fighting their corners more aggressively and tried to provoke this.
As he understands it Telkom is alleging that municipal networks should not be tolerated because:
• ISM band not being use correctly
• Contiguous property argument
• Limitations on resale of facilities
• Telecoms not a core business function of municipalities
Question: if this is the case why has this not been enforced? What is going to be done with WISPs and others in this regard?
Chair of the PPCC indicated that these questions should be properly answered at the further hearing scheduled for 20 June 2006. Telkom, however, pushed hard for an immediate answer from ICASA.
ICASA replied that the Ministerial Determinations of February 2005 had widened the facilities supply market – VANS can now obtain facilities from persons who are legitimately allowed to provide them. By law facilities can be provided by PTNs, other VANS, PSTN, Mobiles, USALs…
[This was again disputed by Telkom who said that the Determinations had no effect on where municipalities should obtain their facilities from.
As a result the subletting of facilities by a municipality I not in contravention of the law as is stands under the Telecommunications Act.
Further question related to WIMAX and frequency. Had not seen any reference to allocation of 3.5 GHz and wanted to kwo if anyone had applied for this?
Per ICASA there are no municipalities in this space – mostly taken up by Telkom and the SNO. Otherwise reserved spectrum for Telkom, SNO, USALs and Sentech. Indicated that had awarded frequency in the 2.6 GHz range to Tshwane which was busy running test projects in this band.
5. Uninet indicated that neither it nor the municipality was in breach of the regulations applicable to ISM usage, including the technical restriction of 100 mW, and it was fully compliant with the ETSI regulations. Uninet stated that they have used a large number of hotspots to cover Knysna to get around the restriction (approx 300 plus hotspots to cover 30% of the town). Also using Hiperlan frequencies(5.4 GHz) which according to ICASA remains an unlicensed band which is available for municipalities In the Hiperlan band the output limit is set at 1000 mW and can run outdoor operations.
6. Vincent Gore asked a further question as to the legality of WISPs and wanted information on how many of these operations have been closed down or placed under investigation.
Session was wrapped up by the Dep Minister of Communications who said there was no point in talking about the Telecommunications Act any more as it was history.
He asked where the focus should be at this stage? Was of the view that despite initiatives taken costs are still 10 times high than they should be. He believes we are in a “waiting period” – basically waiting for the initiatives taken to filter down into lower costs, i.e. believes that lower costs is a function of time.
“It is now all about the regulator”. What can be done to strengthen the regulator and empower it to deal with the challenges of the future
