The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) announced on Monday that it will issue a licence for a second fixed line telephone operator on Friday.
“The Independent Communications Authority of South Africa has finalised the licensing process of the Second Network Operator (SNO). Icasa will therefore be issuing a Public Switched Telecommunications Service (PSTS) license to the SNO Telecommunication (Pty) Ltd this Friday at a public forum,” it said in a statement.
The second fixed line operator will provide competition for telecommunications giant Telkom (TKG) which, until now, has commanded a monopoly over the industry.
The licensing process had had to be delayed several times owing to infighting among the stakeholders, which include India’s Tata Group — which holds 26%, Nexus Connexion, Two Consortium, CommuniTel and State-held entities Transtel and Esitel which are Transnet’s and Eskom’s telecommunications arms. – I-Net Bridge