OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Wednesday 12.00pm.
THE government is considering holding an auction to decide who is awarded the second public switched telecommunications network operator.
Speaking on Tuesday at the Tel.Com Africa 2000 conference, Director General of Communications Andile Ngcaba said a repeat of the protracted third cellular licensing process to decide on Telkom’s rival is not desirable.
According to the Business Report, the second operator could be licensed by the middle of next year, to allow it time to build its network and go commercial either in May 2002 or 2003, when Telkom’s exclusivity period ends.
Ngcaba says Telkom’s competitor has to be licensed at least a year in advance.
The paper says Ngcaba has ruled out prospects of the government going for a full-scale deregulation. The second operator will need to build its own infrastructure and will not piggy-back on existing infrastructure, the paper says.
At the same time Trade and Industry Minister Alec Erwin says his department will refocus and extend its small, medium and micro enterprises development support programmes to the information technology and services sectors.
Erwin said focusing on IT, and working with other ministries, including the department of communications, will widen the impact of the support programmes across the country.