PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO: 1740
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 24 June 2011
QUESTION PAPER NO: 18
DATE OF REPLY: 4 August 2011
Mrs J D Kilian (Cope) to ask the Minister of Communications:
What progress has been made in the development and reform of the
Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) sector in accellerating
local loop unbundling aimed at reducing broadband prices as projected in
the Strategic Overview of 2006-07 to 2012-13?
NW1965E
REPLY:
In 2006 the Department appointed a Local Loop Unbundling Committee, chaired
by Prof. Tshilidzi Marwala. The mandate of the committee was to recommend
an appropriate model to unbundled Telkomâs last mile network and the
timeframe within which this can be done.
The Committee met over a period of five months to deliberate on the
process. As a result, the Committee made policy and regulatory
recommendations to consider on the best models for a successful local loop
unbundling process. A policy decision was taken and gazetted in government
gazette No. 30308 that the unbundling process should be implemented and
completed by 2011.
Subsequent to that in 2010 the Independent Communications Authority of
South Africa (ICASA) published the Electronic Communications Facilities
Leasing Regulations that provides that the Electronic Communications
Network Service (ECNS) licensees must avail the relevant facilities to
licensees who request facilities. The regulations also seek to provide a
framework that stipulates principles, terms and condition, timeframe and
procedure; and dispute resolution mechanisms.
In June 2011, ICASA further published a discussion document which outlines
the its views on the processes to be followed to unbundle the fixed line
local loop, and to invite public participation.