Most worrying is the hint of government running roughshod over Icasa's authority and disrupting the regulator's work. The wording in the directives, drawn up under DoC director-general Andile Ngcaba, is worrying. Langa pointed out to parliament that licences could not be granted to operators unless they applied for these in accordance with the Telecommunications Act. The vague wording of the policy directives could be interpreted as an intention to amend the law and undermine the independence of the regulator, he said. By concentrating State assets in the liberalised telecoms market and giving the impression that it might manipulate policies at a whim, government is discouraging investors, who crave certainty.
Government has a track record of undermining the regulator's independence.
Drawn up by Icasa's predecessor, Satra, after many months of consultation with industry, the guidelines provide fair pricing and service level agreements for new operators and service providers that need to hook into Telkom's network or lease its bandwidth. By withdrawing the guidelines, the Minister threw the market into a regulatory vacuum, making it easy for Telkom to deny bandwidth to value-added network firms it claimed were acting illegally. Next month's judicial review of the third cell licence is also key. Should the judge rule that the choice of Cell C was procedurally flawed or that Matsepe-Casaburri did not apply her mind to, or interfered in, issuing this licence, investor confidence will take a severe beating. A credible, powerful and independent regulator is key to a competitive telecoms market.