NATIONALISED MOBILE SYSTEM
Spectrum policy will put telecom sector back in dark ages
If implemented, progress will be reversed, writes Leon Louw
He wants to subject you to a ghastly nationalised, socialised, incompetent, corrupt, patronage-driven, outdated, regressive, loss-making, apartheid-style telecommunications monopoly. He wants telecoms to resemble failed state enterprises such as South African Airways, Eskom, the SABC and Alexkor, the road network and healthcare and education systems. He calls closed access "open access". Who might he be? Telecommunications Minister Siyabonga Cwele. Few cellphone users know what "spectrum" is or why they should actively oppose the information and communications technology (ICT) policy White Paper. If implemented, progress will be reversed. To that end, Cwele asked the courts to stop Icasa from allocating spectrum, and proposed a part-nationalised, part-monopolised mobile system. Deep in the White Paper lurks extreme intervention unlike anything seen in sophisticated markets. Unsupported by plausible evidence or argument, the proposals reject internationally proven models. Billions of...
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