The Committee asked how far Infraco was in acquiring the ECS licence. Infraco's main duty was to provide connectivity to under-serviced areas such as rural areas. Mr Smith answered that Infraco acquired the ECNS licence, which allowed it to deliver on a wholesale business model, that is, to be able to give services to other operators that were licenced or licence exempt. The lack of an ECS licence meant that Infraco was not allowed to supply anyone if he/she was not licenced, that is, they were not allowed to supply to the public. The Chairperson of Infraco clarified that Infraco was not mandated to service the metropolitan areas and the public in general. The entity needed an ECNS licence as well as an ECS licence in order to service anyone in the country. This implied that the Act determined that Infraco should have an ECS licence. This meant that the Act determined that the entity had to do something it was not really mandated to do. The Minister of Communications had issued a policy directive, which instructed ICASA not to consider Infraco's application for the ECS licence.