Policy

Influencing ICT policy and regulations

The discussion in this section has two parts:

• Infrastructure, policy and regulation Overview of the policy and regulations governing the deployment of connectivity, particularly WiFi.

• Influencing telecommunications policy Strategies used by FMFI partners to attempt to liberalise the regulatory environment to secure viable ICT options for under-serviced areas.

Infrastructure, policy and regulation

A key objective of the FMFI is to use evidence-based research results to influence and inform policy in the telecommunications domain. In order to do this, it was necessary to understand the regulatory framework in each country in order to know what the project was trying to influence. In light of the limited ICT coverage in rural Africa, rollout of WiFi networks provides great potential to stimulate extended ICT access. This is due to the relatively low costs of WiFi once the backbone connectivity is in place, which enables community-based, or bottom up, deployment. All the FMFI partners involved in direct implementation are using some form of WiFi. The current regulatory framework in Southern Africa poses significant challenges to deployment of WiFi community networks. The focus in this discussion therefore is on the WiFi regulations in the various countries and how these impact on service delivery, particularly in the rural areas targeted in the FMFI project. A brief summary of the regulatory environment in each country is given below (1).

Angolan regulatory environment

Two Ministries are involved in telecommunications; the Ministry of Telecommunication and Post and the Ministry of Science and Technology. Angola has one fixed line operator which is 100% government owned, and two cellular operators. The main focus is on provincial capitals and extending coverage to some municipalities. The National IT Commission (CNTI) follows trends in the industry and formulated a strategic plan under the banner of: “Angola – An Emerging Digital Player”. The Government of Angola also created a National Commission for Information Technology by Decree no. 6/2002 of 4 April 2002. This Commission has elaborated a plan known as "Strategy for the Development of Information Technology 2000-2010." The Institut Angolias des Communications (INACOM) regulates the telecommunications sector. Currently, there is no formally constituted fund for universal access.

The Angolan government’s strategy is to develop the communication network first - financed by government through Angola Telecom. This will create a national network to cover the whole country by making use of a fibre optic backbone. There is a submarine fibre cable linking Luanda to Lobito, Benguela and Namibe. However, there are problems with inland links requiring funding from government to the tune of $400million.

The Angolan regulatory emphasis is on regulating the service, not on regulating the technology. When a service is installed in a rural area, they want to know who it belongs to, what they are going to do and how they are going to do it. All services must be licensed or registered. With regard to VSAT and WiFi solutions, communications in the 2.4 GHz band are licence free but it is compulsory for the service provider to register their activities with the regulator.

In education and health applications there are no licence requirements for use of WiFi within a building but a licence is required once outside the building. In addition, government recognised that there are no public networks available in a number of areas and allowed the licensing of WiFi to government departments. This assisted the Department of Health in controlling the Marburg virus through the use of ICT’s.

Some parameters for equipment need to be checked including power output and coverage. Government requires strict control over coverage to prevent signal interference and has had problematic experiences with overseas companies who installed powerful equipment and did not inform the regulator. The regulator remarked about a foreign organisation: “They just installed and started working, ignoring regulations and causing interference”. Some companies wanted to go above 2.4 GHz, but the regulator stopped them, giving them the option to continue with 2.4 GHz or comply with regulator’s licence requirements.

Government’s response to the harmonising of regulations recognises that Angola does not have 100% compliance with CRASA and that countries need different approaches. There is no common perspective and some countries are more advanced than others. Angola has a national plan for frequencies and service providers have to conform to the plan.

As far as liberalising the telecommunications sector and opening up competition, there are plans to expand to four cellular companies and a second fixed line operator. Angola believes that eventually they would need five fixed line operators at national level for voice, internet, data, other applications and the government recognises the need to create incentives for investment and is considering tax exemption especially in neglected areas. However, there is no real competition in Angola yet. Possibly as a result of this, Angolan telecommunications costs are the highest in SADC, but the environment is different. The capital costs for telecommunications equipment are high, and telecoms providers have to import everything and also have to pay taxes on the imports.

South Africa Regulatory Environment

Wireless spread spectrum Local Area Networks (LAN's) used for short distances on single sites e.g. in an office complex in the 2.4-2.5 GHz (ISM) band (2) does not require licence. South African WiFi providers need to adhere to the following requirements if they want to be licence exempt:

1. the network needs to be deployed on a single site/ same premises (for example a business complex) ;
2. signals may only traverse short distances and the maximum radiated power allowed is 100 milliWatts;
3. only type approved equipment may be used;
4. no interference to users of other ISM equipment or other frequency bands may be caused; and (5) the network must be confined to computer systems of the same user.

While the installation of WiFi access points at homes or businesses typically will be licence exempt, larger community based WiFi networks interconnecting different buildings at different properties, providing various telecommunications services need a licence according to these rules. First, community networks cross single property boundaries, and second, in order to make signals traverse longer distances, power needs to be boosted. This means the 100 milliWatt maximum power requirement is often exceeded.

Within the South African licence structure, two types of licence are relevant for longer term deployment: Private Telecommunications Network (PTN) licence and/or a Value-Added Network Service (VANS) licence. A test licence may be obtained for short period of time to, as the name indicates, test a network. Hence, the latter type may be used for research purposes or for testing purposes before commercial rollout.

A PTN licence is authorized “to utilise the private telecommunication network, to provide any and all types of telecommunication services principally and integrally related to the operations of its business”. This constitutes an organization’s deployment of a local network on its premises providing any type of telecommunications services. Once a network becomes connected to the larger national telecommunications network (infrastructure delivered by any other telecommunications operator) through the provision of value added services, a VANS licence is needed. A VANS is, according to the Telecommunications Act of 1996, as amended by section 1(p) of Act 64 of 2001, defined as “a telecommunication service provided by a person over a telecommunication facility, which facility has been obtained by that person in accordance with the provisions of section 40(2) of the Act, to one or more customers of that person concurrently, during which value is added for the benefit of the customers, which may consist of—

1. any kind of technological intervention that would act on the content, format or protocol or similar aspects of the signals transmitted or received by the customer in order to provide those customers with additional, different or restructured information;
2. the provision of authorised access to, and interaction with, processes for storing and retrieval of text and data;
3. managed data network services”.

In addition, Section 40(2) of the Telecommunications Act as substituted by section 15(a) of Act 64 of 2001 further defines VANS among others to provide “electronic data interchange, electronic mail, protocol conversion, access to a database or a managed data network service”.

This means that in the case of a WiFi community network where no direct interconnection to the (inter-)national telecommunications network is provided (infrastructure delivered by any other telecommunications operator), a PTN licence would be needed, whereas the delivery of value added services demands a VANS licence. Once Value Added Network Services are delivered, or once a network crosses the boundaries of the premises, another issue comes to the fore which is that of the use or deployment of facilities. Section 40(2) of the Telecommunications Act as substituted by section 15(a) of Act 64 of 2001 dictates that after 7 May 2002 telecommunications facilities must be used that are provided by Telkom or the Second National Operator (SNO) until a date is fixed by the Minister by notice in the Gazette, setting out new rules. To this extent, in Notice 1924 of 2004 in the Gazette of 3 September 2004 Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri states the following regarding self-provision of VAN's: “In terms of section 40(2) of the Act, 1 February 2005 shall be the date from when a person who provides a value added network service shall be entitled to cede or assign the right to use, or to sublet or part with control or otherwise dispose of the telecommunications facilities used for the provision of the value added network service” .

Thus, the Minister gave way for VANS to self-provision infrastructure, use facilities from any market player, as well as being allowed to resell their own infrastructure to others. However, about 24 hours before the changes would take effect, Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri sent out a press statement, saying that it was never her intention to allow VANS to provide their own facilities. While this statement is not legal since it was not published in the Government Gazette, it has never been officially challenged. Self provision now constitutes a grey area as regulation cannot contain a statement that self provision is allowed, since the Minister has to sign off on regulation. However, nowhere is it stated otherwise that it is not allowed. They may therefore conclude that self provision is informally allowed.

Research organizations and private companies before commercial rollout are entitled to get a test licence for a relatively short period of time as stated previously. After expiration, another type of licence as described above is required.

On April 11, 2006 President Mbeki signed the new Electronic Communications Act, which largely repeals the old Telecommunications Act of 1996, or the Act as amended in 2001. Enactment of this Act means full restructuring of the current licence regime. It is not yet in effect, but is supposed to be completed within two years. Whereas in the old licence regime frequency spectrum, infrastructure and service provision were all dealt with in one single licence, in the new licence regime there will be separate licence for network, frequency, broadcasting, and services provision. In addition, all licence will be categorized as either individual or class licence, meaning respectively providing national or regional ‘coverage’. In addition, there will be licence exempt categories.

It is thus slightly unclear what type of licence a WiFi community network operator would need. Depending on the specifics of the network, class licence for both infrastructure and services might be needed (within the Electronic Communications Act called “Electronic Communications Networks Services or Electronic Communications Services” respectively). As procedures for obtaining such licence still need to be implemented, the ease and speed of granting new licence is a moot issue. However, the regulator seemingly will obtain more freedom to grant licence, as these licences do not need to be signed off by the Minister anymore. While some positive changes may arise, the new Act does not specify any changes in rules relating to power levels and crossing boundaries of property. Therefore, the extent of changes of the Electronic Communications Act cannot yet be fully assessed.

Self provision has been an issue for long, but it is likely that with the Electronic Communications Act (ECA), self provision will be allowed. The regulatory framework surrounding WiFi deployment nevertheless remains complicated, and due to Ongoing changes of staff at the regulator, applications for licences tend to take a long time.

The interim strategy employed to increase affordable universal access is that of granting Under-serviced Area Licence (USAL’s). The licence is for Small Medium Enterprises (SMME's) that provide telecommunication services in areas designated as under-serviced.

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(1) Adapted from research by Annemijn van Gorp, CSIR 14-07-2006 and interviews conducted by Uys du Buisson and Chris Morris during site visits in 2006. (2) Department of Posts and Telecommunications Notice No. 1790 17 November 1995