SOUTH African Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri said that the country’s final telecoms policy plan would be released within weeks and would be little changed from a draft plan.
“I don’t think we will have a very great, fundamental difference,” Matsepe-Casaburri told reporters.
The minister said the government was looking at all public submissions on the draft but that “it would be unfortunate to a have a radical departure”, adding this would not reflect well on the government.
The draft plan, released in March, sees one competitor to the state phone monopoly Telkom at first, and another within five years. It gives state signal broadcaster Sentech an international phone licence.
The plan also insists on participation in the second network operator by the telecoms arm of state-owned power group Eskom and transport utility Transnet. – Reuters
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