In the hot seat

"ICASA has not fallen behind in delivering its mandate," insists Paris Mashile, chairman of the Independent Communications Authority of SA. Note that ICASA has no CEO at present.

Similarly, when called to comment on ICASA`s performance for the purposes of this article, the bigger telecoms stakeholders either tersely declined to do so, or issued vague one-liners about continuing to cooperate with other stakeholders in the communications industry.

Yet the fact remains that in recent times, ICASA has been plagued by allegations of mismanagement of funds, infighting and inefficiency.

Watching the watchdog

Last month it emerged that an ad-hoc Parliamentary Committee would review the performance of ICASA, along with ten other industry watchdog bodies entrenched in Chapter Nine of the Constitution.

The ad hoc committee`s investigation will apparently take a critical look at the performance, budgets, methods of appointment and much else connected to the watchdog entities, including their efficiency, internal governance, accountability and reporting, and often contentious salaries paid to their officials, among other things. ICASA`s turn is set for mid-year.

"In light of the challenges faced by the regulator in the past few years - skills shortages [and] budget constraints - ICASA fared well and delivered on its mandate to develop regulations for the sector, and license new operators," maintains Mashile.

Be that as it may, while it is unclear what sanctions, if any, will be levelled against underperfoming Chapter Nine entities, one area that should be reviewed is the appointment of ICASA councillors. At present, there is no provision in the Constitution that sets out clearly how ICASA councillors ought to be appointed. The appointment of councilors is a prerogative of the portfolio committee on communications and the Minister of Communications, as stipulated in the ICASA Amendment Act.

Stemming the staff turnover tide

At issue is also the haemorrhaging of staff at the regulator: at one point last year, five of its nine councillor posts were vacant. "The job market is highly liquid, and a high labour turnover is commonplace. The problem is not unique to ICASA: other regulators in the SADC region experience the same problem," says Mashile.

]The regulator`s battle to attract and retain skilled staff was highlighted by the case of Andrew Barendse, who was last year appointed as one of the five new Icasa councillors, and instead opted for a high-paying job at fixed-line operator Telkom.

ICASA is currently finalising a job evaluation exercise to grade all positions within the organisation to that they are remunerated comparatively with packages from industry, says Mashile.

ICASA`s current staff complement is 280. At the end of last year, ICASA had 17 vacancies advertised within its existing organisational structure. That`s not including its top job, that of CEO, vacated on the quiet by Jackie Manche in December, who preferred not to face a disciplinary inquiry into her financial mismanagement. The CEO position was advertised last month, and Stan Mamaregane is acting CEO until the appointment is made.

"Once the new organisational structure is finalised, new positions would be identified - as required by the EC Act mandate - and be filled accordingly," says Mashile.

(The Electronic Communications Act, promulgated in mid-2006, provides a legal framework for liberalising the local telecoms market. It also introduces a new dispensation into the licensing environment, giving ICASA 18 months to July 2008 to convert existing licences.)

Mashile points out that there are currently eight councillors in office, and the ninth should be appointed by Communications Minister Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri shortly.

Many of the telcos did agree that ICASA`s biggest challenge was a human resources one. Cell C`s executive head of corporate communications, Vanashree Pillay, noted that its high staff turnover and resulting skills shortage "necessarily affects the regulator`s ability to respond to industry issues in a prompt and decisive manner".

"There is a great need for ICASA to prevent their senior staff/councillors from leaving the institution and joining the network operators/service providers, thus leaving the institution with limited resources to be effective. ICASA should allow a cooling-off period from certain employees before joining the industry they were once regulating," suggested Nicholas Maweni, Virgin Mobile`s head of corporate affairs.

The bigger picture: we need more money

These HR challenges are due, largely, to ICASA`s bigger budgetary woes. Mashile has said that it needs financial resources to fulfill human resource needs. "We need capital investment; we have many licence applications, which we would be able to process faster if we had adequate funds," he lamented. ICASA`s management is working on its proposed budget for 2007/8 based on ongoing medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) projects, as well as new projects arising from the EC Act. The new organisational structure being developed would also have budgetary implications. The budgetary process should be completed by mid-March, following "interaction" with the Communications Department and National Treasury.

Last year, ICASA applied for additional funding of R57 million for the implementation of its mandate as defined by the EC Act, reports ITWeb.

2007`s to do list

These challenges aside, Mashile indicates that the implementation of the Electronic Communications (EC) Act, through the conversion of licences and the review of existing licences, are the greatest challenges facing the authority for the next three years.

"Remember we have MTEF projects that have been ongoing... and now with the EC Act, additional projects have been added [to] the authority`s list of deliverables. As a result, some projects have to be implemented consequentially," he points out.

"For example, before we can start licensing, we have to develop regulations, standards and terms. There is no delay on the part of ICASA, but we have to follow prescribed procedure in terms of the new law," he says. Of course, the EC Act was promulgated in July, and it is February already...

The EC Act has given ICASA additional responsibilities, he explains, such as determination of competition and market issues. "As a result, ICASA would need additional skilled personnel, and [to] review its organisational structure in order to meet the requirements of the EC Act," spells out Mashile. He lists ICASA`s priorities projects for the year as follows:

* Implementation of the Electronic Communications Act, which entails the conversion of existing broadcasting, telecoms and radio frequency licences into new categories of licences as provided by the EC Act. The new licence categories are Electronic Communications Network licence, Electronic Communications Service licence, broadcasting services and radio frequency licences. These, in turn, can be issued as individual (national and provincial) licences and as class licences (district and local);
* Frequency spectrum band plans review;
* Policy and regulatory review of all existing regulations;
* Market study on all products and services offered in the sector;
* Mobile termination rates;
* Finalisation of the policy on the allocation of scarce frequencies, i.e. WiMAX;
* Commencement of the Complaints and Compliance Committee activities; and
* Finalising Consumer Code of Conduct.

In addition to the ECA projects, there are year-on-year projects initiated a year ago in terms of the MTEF:

* Announcing winning bidders for the secondary commercial broadcasting licences for Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga;
* Licensing additional subscription television service/s, as competitors to DStv; and
* Issuing additional under-serviced area licence operators.

”Although ICASA has lost a number of staff recently, this has not affected the deliverables of the organisation. For example, the licensing for the three commercial radio stations for Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West is being finalised, and an announcement [will] be made before the end of the financial year," promised Mashile.

He also reminds that ICASA has just published its findings on fees and charges for mobile and fixed-line call termination, in a bid to force down the costs of phone calls.

And ICASA is about to begin the process of defining competition markets, determining which operators command significant market power and develop relevant regulations governing such operators in term of the EC Act, says Mashile.

"ICASA`s role is often misunderstood and its achievements underplayed," he maintains.