The Minister of Communications presented her budget speech yesterday. I had not had sight of it and had consumed a few glasses of Bloemendal red wine (not to mention sampled a good others) at the ISPA dinner when I was asked for comment by Business Day. Needless to say, I was not very coherent.
Much was said, and although there has been movement in certain areas - most notably the eventual promulgation of the EC Act, very little tangible progress has been made on lowering the costs of telecoms and stimulating the growth of broadband.
She uses feel-good extracts from the President's State of the Nation address, but neglects to mention that in a recent interview with the Financial Times of London he said:
"The cost of telecommunications is unbelievably high"
She focuses on unbundling of the local loop (ULL), and states that it is "urgent":
"I HAVE ALSO TAKEN THE POLICY DECISION that, given the complexity of local loop unbundling process on the one hand and the urgency for South Africa to enable all operators appropriately licensed to have access to the local loop on the other, the unbundling process in South Africa should be urgently implemented."
but then states:
"The unbundling process should be completed by 1 November 2011."
I think that sums up the problem for me. 4.5 years is considered "urgent". What makes it
more interesting, is that the process ICASA is pursuing with some uncharacteristic and laudable speed, being the definition of markets, and promulgation of regulations on interconnect and facilities leasing will effectively unbundle the local loop long before 2011 if the process is not derailed.
I wonder how "Accelerated" is defined (as in ASGISA)? But then if you're starting from a low speed, any increase in forward movement can be defined as "acceleration".
The local loop is indeed one of the bottlenecks in introducing relatively unfettered competition into the SA market, and if the DoC have realised that, it is a positive thing. However it is realised, it is needed now, not in 2011.
I must remember to revisit this at the end of 2007 and rate progress.
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