Government’s pricey telecoms plan in limbo
The government has shelved the Electronic Communications Amendment Bill. But it’s unclear what that means for its plan for a shared national network, or the timing of the spectrum allocation auction
Mobile operators have been left in the dark as to whether the government will go ahead with a controversial plan to create a shared national network. To the relief of some network operators, including local market giant Vodacom, communications minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams withdrew the contentious Electronic Communications Amendment (ECA) Bill in early February. Among other things, the bill had called for the establishment of a wireless open- access network (Woan), which would sell capacity to operators and house some of the country’s highly sought-after spectrum or radio frequencies. The aim was to boost black empowerment in the sector and increase competition by encouraging new entrants and giving smaller players a leg up. Ultimately, it was hoped the Woan would reduce the cost to communicate. But because the project would require a new national tower network to be built, analysts estimated it would cost more than R100bn to get off the ground properly. And for some it really wo...
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