2 weeks Ago
A plan to allow equity equivalent programmes in South Africa's ICT sector, while a brilliant political move, does not solve the problems caused by forcing all network operators and service providers to be 30% black-owned. Communications minister Solly Malatsi recently announced that he intends to issue a policy direction regarding equity equivalent programmes for urgent consideration by industry regulator Icasa. While this would open a door for Elon Musk's SpaceX to launch its satellite broadband service, Starlink, in South Africa, it has broader industry implications too.
Malatsi's plan comes more than three years after the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) issued regulations requiring all national network operators and service providers to be 30% black-owned. It should be noted that Malatsi was only appointed as minister this year. He and his colleagues had previously railed against these changes from the opposition benches in Parliament.
Icasa suspended the implementation of its new black ownership provision until an undetermined future date following industry backlash. However, it can enact these pending regulations at any moment. In the meantime, the existing local ownership requirements of the Electronic Communications Act (ECA) remain in effect.
It stipulates that national telecommunications providers must be 30% owned by historically disadvantaged groups. As defined in the ECA, historically disadvantaged groups (HDGs) include black people and citizens who are women, youth, and people with disabilities. However, even though the ECA has included black economic empowerment provisions since coming into effect in mid-2006, they have not been strictly enforced.
This is thanks to a legal misstep by the late former Minister of Communications, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, which resulted in her and Icasa being dragged to court in what became known as the "Altech Case". At the heart of the issue was Telkom's monopoly over fixed-line..
. Jan Vermeulen.
