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Cape Town - Cabinet has approved a bill that gets round the problem raised by parliamentary committees over the licensing of the state-owned broad band fibre-optic network - Infraco.
An amendment to the Electronic Communications Act (ECA) has been rushed through that will allow the minister to issue a policy directive that will enable the state to invest in strategic electronic infrastructure.
In particular the bill says the directive will establish a framework under which the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) will be able to license it.
The issue arose because the bill establishing the new network from the fibre optic lines owned by Transnet and Eskom began by creating a "deemed licence". Members of Parliament protested that this undermined the independence of Icasa, which is required to license all telecommunications operators in terms of the ECA.
- Fin24
