The government should stop meddling in the telecommunications sector and leave it to private companies to run as they see fit, says the Democratic Alliance.
Unveiling her party’s communications policy document on Tuesday, DA representative Dene Smuts said government seemed intent on maintaining control of the telecoms sector in the country.
”We say open it up. The government is not there to run businesses,” she told reporters in Cape Town.
Competition in an open, predictable and appropriately regulated environment was the best way to achieve universal access, consumer choice, the lowest possible prices and the best quality.
”They (private companies) are good at it, so let them do it.”
Regulation should unambiguously serve the specific purpose of encouraging and achieving an open, competitive market. Smuts said the only exception should be for regulation for public policy purposes, such as consumer protection and cultural or linguistic diversity in broadcasting.
South Africa, like the European Union, would benefit from abandoning elaborate licensing procedures.
The DA’s document says entrepreneurs should not have to wait for ministerial invitations to apply for licences to offer a national, regional or local service.
Modern technologies, such as Voice-over-Internet Protocol, offer an excellent opportunity to provide services at an affordable rate, and any obstacle to their introduction should be removed.
These new technologies also provide for new entrants into the market. Government should construct an enabling environment in which small business can develop and prosper.
”Less regulation and more entrepreneurial flair should be the order of the day; a light touch, hands-off approach,” it says.
Smuts said the traditional boundaries between broadcasting and telecommunications were becoming blurred.
A person using a telephone could make use of a number of mediums, including copper wire, fibre optic cable, mobile cellular technologies and satellite links. Broadcasting, likewise, could use many different mediums.
Consumers could also receive broadcasts or make calls over the internet, and send and receive e-mail using a TV set as a monitor. ”Technology-neutral regulation therefore becomes necessary.”
The DA proposed this convergence should be recognised by separating the regulation of transmission of electronic signals and the infrastructure over which the signals were transported, from the regulation of content, such as information services and broadcasting.
A new Communications Act should replace the outdated Broadcasting Act and the Telecommunications Act, allowing for new technologies, the party suggested.
However, Smuts argued that instead of working to open up the airwaves and inviting new technologies, government was looking at how to control the public broadcaster, and protect the country’s fixed-line services. – Sapa