The Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) will announce on Thursday the company it has recommended to Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri as the preferred bidder for a 51% stake in the second national telephone operator (SNO).
The SNO will compete with Telkom, the existing monopoly provider of fixed-line telephone services. In a media statement on Wednesday, Icasa said Thursday’s
recommendation will complete the second stage in the licensing process of the SNO, following a previous stage where a 19% black economic empowerment stake was awarded to Nexus Connexion.
Icasa spokesperson Vimla Maistry said the preferred bidder would be a consortium, as Nexus Connexion was.
She said a 30% stake in the SNO had been awarded to Transtel and Esi-tel, subsidiaries of parastatals Transnet and Eskom respectively.
Matsepe-Casaburri clashed with Icasa earlier this year after the minister announced a process to appoint a 51% shareholder in the SNO that by-passed the regulator.
This followed an Icasa recommendation in January against both bidders vying for the stake at that time. The process had since re-opened, after negotiations between the department and Icasa.
Five bidders — TeleAccess Investments, WIP Investments Nine, Two Consortium, Detecon International/T-Systems, and an unspecified Chinese company — are vying for the majority stake. – Sapa