Report
25 May 2007
The Minister of Communications, Dr Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, today received the
Local Loop Unbundling Report from the Committee mandated to recommend on how
the local loop should be unbundled at the Cape Town International Convention
Centre. Minister announced the appointment of the Local Loop Unbundling
Committee (LLUC) last year during her Budget Vote speech in Parliament. The
Committee, chaired by Prof Tshilidzi Marwala, was tasked to recommend how
Telkom's last mile network should be unbundled to facilitate affordable open
access, lower prices of telecommunications and offer a wide choice of access to
information and communications technology services. Local loop refers to the
last mile from the local exchange to the subscriber's premises.
"This report covers the technological aspects, legal and regulatory issues,
as well as the economic implications of unbundling the local loop," said Prof
Marwala. The Committee made policy and regulatory recommendations to the
Minister to consider on the best models for a successful local loop unbundling
process. Some of the key recommendations include:
* that it is appropriate to have a combination of three unbundling models,
namely:
1 full unbundling
2 line sharing and
3 bitstream (wholesale) access
* that a new facilities and services management entity be formed by the
incumbent if full unbundling model is to be considered
* that the pricing levied by the incumbent for access to the local loop be
regulated
* regardless of who owns the local loop, any operator appropriately licensed by
Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) should have access
to the local loop to deliver voice and/or broadband services
* the regulator should implement carrier pre-selection as soon as possible so
that customers would have a choice on who would transmit voice and data on the
local loop infrastructure to their premises regardless of who owns the local
loop.
Based on the recommendations the LLUC believes that customers will be able
to select carriers of their choice for the transmission of voice and or data
and exercise carrier pre-selection choice as effortlessly as possible. The
handover of follows Ministerâs Budget Vote Speech yesterday, where she took a
policy decision that the unbundling process should be urgently implemented and
completed by 2011. The published policy directives direct Icasa to immediately
start with the implementation of the local loop and it be completed by
2011.
The Minister said Icasa should "as appropriate, take advantage of the report
of the local loop unbundling committee and its recommendations on the proposed
unbundling models. Dr Matsepe-Casaburri thanked the committee for their efforts
saying "their sterling work was not only for the department but their
meticulous report will ensure that the rest of the country benefits from a
successful local loop unbundling process." The full report of the committee
will be accessible on the Department of Communications website https://www.doc.gov.za on Monday.
For enquiries, contact:
Albi Modise
Cell: 083 490 2871
Richard Mantu
Cell: 072 488 1520
Issued by: Department of Communications
25 May 2007
