The Internet Service Providers\u2019 Association (Ispa) has taken issue with statements attributed to Telkom Group CEO, Sipho Maseko, regarding Local Loop Unbundling (LLU).<\/p>\n
The group noted that the Telkom CEO was reported in late September 2013 as stating that the incumbent would fight LLU as it amounted to \u201csubsidising\u201d competitors who wanted to \u201cride on Telkom\u2019s network\u201d.<\/p>\n
Telkom’s head also expressed the view that \u201cTelkom has been trampled on for quite a while\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile Ispa has great respect for the turnaround work Mr Maseko is doing at Telkom, these statements are not correct and cannot remain unchallenged,” the body said in a statement.<\/p>\n
“Nobody is looking for an ‘easy ride’ on Telkom\u2019s network through LLU \u2013 the provisions of the draft LLU Regulations issued by Icasa are quite clear as to compensation payable to Telkom by those seeking access to the Local Loop,”\u00a0said Ispa regulatory advisor, Dominic Cull.<\/p>\n
“It has never been ISPA\u2019s contention that anything other than fair and non-discriminatory pricing should be applied. We believe that Telkom would be better served by viewing LLU as a wholesale opportunity to recover its investment and a co-investment opportunity to ensure that fixed line broadband remains relevant at a time where substitution for mobile broadband is already widespread and growing.”<\/p>\n
Cull said that\u00a0Telkom\u2019s view that it has been “trampled on” is extremely hard to sustain, given its historical relationship with the ISP sector.<\/p>\n
“This is evidenced by the substantial fines imposed on it on two separate occasions by the Competition authorities in respect of anti-competitive conduct over the past decade,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Cull noted that Telkom\u2019s position regarding LLU would make its control over the fixed last mile increasingly irrelevant.<\/p>\n
The advisor said that the failure to complete unbundling, along with the failure to licence radio frequency spectrum suitable for wireless last mile services, is having the unintended consequence of an explosion in last-mile fibre deployments which are displacing the copper local loop.<\/p>\n
“This will intensify in the next two years as further national long distance fibre networks dramatically reduce the cost of this connectivity, leaving the local loop as the only major short-term infrastructure bottleneck.<\/p>\n
“A failure to shift from a \u2018threat\u2019 to an \u2018opportunity\u2019 mind-set regarding LLU \u00a0to ensure the continued relevance and competitiveness of the local loop also appears to ignore clear Government policy regarding infrastructure sharing and the reduction of the cost to communicate,\u201d Cull said.<\/p>\n
Telkom: time to stop subsidising Vodacom, MTN<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n IS slates Icasa draft on LLU<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Local Loop Unbundling draft regulations published<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n