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Govt, Icasa meet over SNO issue

Cape Town - Legal teams from the Department of Communications and the industry regulator, Icasa were to meet on Thursday to iron out their differences over the minister's powers in selecting the second national operator (SNO).

Addressing reporters in Parliament, Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri denied that the Independent Communications Authority of SA had been excluded from the process to choose a competitor for Telkom.

"Unfortunately, everyone just assumed that there was an exclusion of Icasa, and there is no basis in fact for such a position at all."

According to Business Report, Icasa's lawyers have concluded the minister acted outside her authority when she announced a rerun of the bidding process for the SNO that excluded the regulator.

They apparently have handed the opinion to the ministry.

Matsepe-Casaburri earlier this month announced a new process to choose a 51% investor in the SNO after Icasa rejected two bidders, Optis and Golfleaf.

This was to be run by a SNO committee from within her department that would consult with Icasa.

The government has awarded a 30% stake in the SNO to Transtel and Esi-tel, subsidiaries of parastatals Transnet and Eskom respectively, and 19 percent to empowerment company, Nexus.

The minister said on Thursday the rerun was aimed at deciding the preferred investor and was not about issuing the licence or setting the licence conditions for the new company.

"What is important in the law is that Icasa is the one that sets the licence conditions and Icasa issues the licence, it is not the minister that gets involved in those kinds of activities.

"The process we are engaging in is a process that deals with the 51%, it's not a process that deals with the licensing etcetera."

This was not necessarily a responsibility allocated to the regulator.

Icasa's lawyers and the department's legal advisers had met on Wednesday and were to meet again on Thursday to discuss the issue, including the role Icasa saw for itself in the bidding process.

"The most important thing is we should not open ourselves for legal processes that are really totally unnecessary," she said.

Matsepe-Casaburri also said there had been significant interest shown in the investment from both local and foreign companies following the decision to end the last tender.

"As soon as we announced an acceptance of Icasa's recommendation, there was a great deal of interest from different quarters, both local and overseas," she said.

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