The invitation would make clear how big a stake in any bidding consortia must be set aside for Eskom and Transnet’s telecoms units.
The mandatory inclusion of these two, if the draft policy becomes law after a month of public comment, is an about-turn from Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri’s statement last week that the government did not plan to insist on their participation.
The draft policy said the regulator ICASA would license mobile phone firms for 1800 MHz frequency spectrum, a bone of contention for operators who say their 900 MHz spectrum is clogged within six months. Operators would pay an appropriate fee to be determined by the minister.
ICASA would also issue third generation mobile service licences to Telkom, the second national operator and the three existing mobile phone licence-holders, who would again pay an appropriate fee.
