CompTel/Ascent praised S. African regulators for proposing pro-co...

supported ICASA’s plan to create a technology- neutral approach to licensing VANS as well as ICASA’s decision to give VANS flexibility in the way services are provided to customers. However, CompTel encouraged ICASA to change proposed rules for encouraging investment by “historically disadvantaged individuals.” CompTel said it would be “preferable for ICASA to leave to commercial negotiations between prospective partners the level of investment of each partner rather than pre-determine that ‘historically disadvantaged individuals’ should have a minimum 30% shareholding in any licensed VANS provider.” Such a mandate could undermine ICASA’s competition policy by limiting “participation of foreign capital,” CompTel said. CompTel also urged ICASA “to adopt a series of pro- competitive measures to foster viable and sustainable competition, specifically measures to prevent major suppliers from engaging in anti-competitive practices.” CompTel said Feb. 1 was the date that VANS could be provided by competitors to S. African provider Telekom and the so-called Second National Operator. However, CompTel said: “Without pro-competitive regulation in place by the effective date insuring VANS providers have access to the key inputs, in the form of local leased circuits and capacity in international cable systems, this objective will be difficult to meet… The principal bottleneck faced by emerging providers of VANS is the first-mile access to their customers… ICASA’s proposal to exclude leased lines above 2 Mbits from price cap regulation adds to the competitive uncertainty of VANS providers… We, therefore, believe that commonsense regulation of bottleneck facilities is required.”